System and methods for disambiguating an ambiguous entity in a search query based on the gaze of a user

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for disambiguation of an ambiguous entity in a search query based on the gaze of a user. These systems and methods may be implemented by a media guidance application (e.g., executed by user equipment associated with the user). In some aspects, the media guidance application may monitor the gaze of the user and attempt to disambiguate the ambiguous entity based on an area of the screen the user viewed while issuing the search query. If the media guidance application receives an indication that it did not disambiguate the ambiguous entity in the search query correctly, the media guidance application may increase the area of the screen that the user viewed in order to find an additional entity. This may allow the media guidance application to quickly and accurately find the correct answer to the user&#39;s search query.

BACKGROUND

Conversational systems have become increasing common in householdsaround the globe. With the increased prevalence of these systems, usershave become increasingly dependent on the conversational systems. Assuch, users commonly defer to the conversational system to answerquestions that they may have previously been resolved using an Internetsearch, e.g., the identity of actors in a media asset. The increasedcomfort with these systems may lead to poorly phrased and increasinglyvague questions. For example, the user may substitute pronouns in theirsentences or simply query the system for the identity of the unknownactor currently in the media asset by asking “who is that?” In someinstances, these questions may be too vague for the conversationalsystem to accurately interpret, requiring the user to further clarifytheir inquiry or requiring that the conversational system attempt to theanswer with little to no information. Such conventional systems do notconsider where the user was looking at the time or some time precedingwhen they asked the question.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, systems and methods are described herein for disambiguationof an ambiguous entity in a search query based on the gaze of a user.These systems and methods may be implemented by a media guidanceapplication (e.g., executed by user equipment associated with the user).In some aspects, the media guidance application may monitor the gaze ofthe user and attempt to disambiguate the ambiguous entity based on anarea of the screen the user viewed while issuing the search query. Ifthe media guidance application receives an indication that it did notdisambiguate the ambiguous entity in the search query correctly, themedia guidance application may increase the area of the screen that theuser viewed in order to find an additional entity. This may allow themedia guidance application to quickly and accurately find the correctanswer to the user's search query.

For example, a user may be watching a media asset (e.g., episode 9 ofseason 1 of “Game of Thrones,” entitled “Baelor”) and may want to knowhow old is an actor (e.g., Jack Gleeson) who plays one of the characters(e.g., Joffrey Baratheon) in the media asset. The user may ask “How oldis he?” when Joffrey Baratheon is present in a scene. Based ondetermining that the area of the screen corresponding to the gaze of theuser contains Ned Stark, played by Sean Bean, the media guidanceapplication may answer with “Did you a mean Sean Bean?” Upon the userresponding “No,” the media guidance application may increase the area ofthe screen corresponding to the gaze of the user: if the increased areaincludes Joffrey Baratheon, the media guidance application may answerwith “Did you mean Jack Gleeson?” In this way, the media guidanceapplication may quickly identify and disambiguate the ambiguous entityincluded in the user's search request, without having to guess everyentity in the frame.

The media guidance application may monitor the gaze of the user duringplayback of “Baelor.” The media guidance application may determine anarea of the screen that the user is looking at continuously, atpredetermined intervals, randomly, or during any other suitable timeframe. The media guidance application may store, in a user profileassociated with the first user, data indicating what area the user waslooking at each time the media guidance application monitored the gazeof the user. For example, at 6:50 PM, the media guidance application maydetermine a first area of the screen that corresponds to the user's gazeat 6:50 PM. The media guidance application may determine that the framebeing generated for display at 6:50 PM was the frame at the fiftiethminute of “Baelor.” The media guidance application may compare the firstarea to the metadata associated with the frame at the fiftieth minute of“Baelor” to determine that the user was looking at Ned Stark, played bySean Bean. The media guidance application may store, in the userprofile, indications of the time (e.g., 6:50 PM), the frame (e.g., theframe at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor), and the entity (e.g., SeanBean) that the user viewed at 6:50 PM. The media guidance applicationmay also store a weighting profile in the user profile, which indicateshow important an entity is (or how often the user looks at said entity).

At a second time after the first time (e.g., 6:52 PM), the mediaguidance application may determine a second area that corresponds to thegaze of the user at that time. The media guidance application may alsodetect that a user says “How old is he?” and may then determine that theuse of the pronoun “he” in the question indicates that the questionincludes an ambiguous entity. In response, the media guidanceapplication may seek to narrow the possible entities that correspond tothe ambiguous entity in the question. To do so, the media guidanceapplication may determine a frame that corresponds to the current timeat which the question was asked, which may be the frame occurring at thefifty-second minute of “Baelor.” Once the frame is identified, the mediaguidance application may retrieve metadata about that frame, such as thelocation of a first entity (e.g., Ned Stark played by Sean Bean), secondentity (e.g., Joffrey Baratheon played by Jack Gleeson), and a thirdentity (e.g., Cersei Lannister played by Lena Headey) in the frame. Notethat entities may be actors, actresses, objects, or characters, or anyother suitable entity in a frame.

The media guidance application may then determine whether the secondarea overlaps with any of the locations of the first entity, the secondentity, or the third entity. For example, the media guidance applicationmay determine that the second area overlaps with only the first entity.If this is the case, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay to the user a prompt that says “Did you mean Sean Bean?”

However, the second area may overlap with, for example, the first andthird entities. The media guidance application may then determine whichentity to prompt the user with. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine, from the weighting profile stored in the userprofile, that Sean Bean has a greater weight than Lena Headey, which mayindicate that the user has viewed Sean Bean more often than the user hasviewed Lena Headey. As a result, the media guidance application may askthe user if he or she meant Sean Bean. Additionally or alternatively,the media guidance application may access a social media popularity ofSean Bean and Lena Headey, and based on the information therein,determine that, for example, Sean Bean is more popular, and thus ask theuser if he or she meant Sean Bean. Additionally or alternatively, themedia guidance application may use the gaze of other users who are alsoviewing “Baelor” to determine whether to prompt the user with the firstentity or the third entity. For example, if another user was looking atSean Bean at the current time the question was posed, the media guidanceapplication may, as a result, ask the user if he or she meant Sean Bean.Additionally or alternatively, the media guidance application may use aknowledge graph to determine that the pronoun only applies to one of thefirst entity and the third entity. For example, because the pronoun “he”in the question indicates that the user is referring a male, the mediaguidance application may ask the user if he or she meant Sean Bean,because Sean Bean is male and Lena Headey is female.

The media guidance application may then receive the user's response tothe inquiry. For example, the user may then respond “no” or “the otherone” to the media guidance application's prompt “Did you mean SeanBean?” In response, the media guidance application may attempt todetermine another entity that may disambiguate the search query andadjust the user profile. For example, in order to determine anotherentity, if the third entity was in the second area, the media guidanceapplication may prompt the user with the third entity. However, assumingthat the third entity was not in the second area, the media guidanceapplication may expand the second area, and determine that, for example,the second entity (e.g., Joffrey Baratheon played by Jack Gleeson) is inthe expanded second area. Additionally, the media guidance applicationmay access previously stored data about the users gaze and furtheranalyze that data to edit the user profile. For example, the mediaguidance application may access the information stored at 6:50 PM, thatis, that the user was looking at Sean Bean in the frame at the fiftiethminute of “Baelor.” The media guidance application may expand the firstarea (i.e., the area that corresponded to the user's gaze at 6:50 PM) todetermine that the expanded first area overlaps with the third entity.Because the system has not yet determined whether the user was lookingat the second entity (e.g., Joffrey Baratheon played by Jack Gleeson) orthe third entity (e.g., Cersei Lannister played by Lena Headey), themedia guidance application may decrease the weight of Sean Bean in theweighting profile, as the user was definitely not looking at Sean Bean,and increase the weight of Lena Headey and Jack Gleeson equally.

If the media guidance application determines that Jack Gleeson is in theexpanded second area of the fifty-second frame of “Baelor,” the mediaguidance application may issue the audio prompt “Did you mean JackGleeson?” If the user answers “yes” to the media guidance application'sprompt, the media guidance application may then determine the answer tothe user's question, provide additional information about the secondentity, and edit the user profile. For example, the media guidanceapplication may answer the question “How old is he?” by saying orgenerating for display “24.” Furthermore, the media guidance applicationmay display a listing for the show “Killinskully” or the movie “BatmanBegins,” both of which contain Jack Gleeson, biographical informationabout Jack Gleeson, or any other appropriate information about JackGleeson. Finally, the media guidance application may adjust theweighting profile in the user profile of the user by decreasing theweight of Sean Bean (because the media guidance application now knowsthat the user was not looking at Sean Bean) and increase the weight ofJack Gleeson.

In some aspects, the media guidance application may monitor, at acurrent time, a gaze of the user during playback of a media asset. Forexample, the media guidance application may monitor the gaze of the userduring playback of “Baelor.” In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine a first area of the display screen thatcorresponds to the gaze. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the user was looking at a one inch by one inch portion ofthe upper left corner of the screen. The media guidance application mayreceive, at the current time, from the user, a search query including anambiguous entity. For example, the media guidance application mayreceive a user search query of “How old is he?”

The media guidance application may determine a frame of the media assetthat corresponds to the current time, and determine that the first areaoverlaps with a location of a first entity in the frame. For example,the one inch by one-inch portion may overlap with the position of SeanBean's character in “Baelor,” Ned Stark. Based on determining that thefirst area overlaps with the location of the first entity, the mediaguidance application may generate for display a first prompt foradditional input. The first prompt for additional input may indicate thefirst entity as a first potential disambiguation of the ambiguous entityin the search query. For example, the media guidance application maygenerate for display the prompt “Did you mean Sean Bean?” Subsequent togenerating for display the first prompt for additional input, the mediaguidance application may receive a negative input from the user. Thenegative input may indicate that the first entity is an incorrectdisambiguation of the ambiguous entity in the search query. For example,the user may say “No, the other one.”

Based on receiving the negative input, the media guidance applicationmay expand the first area to a second area, larger than the first area,of the display screen. For example, the media guidance application mayexpand the one inch by one inch square to a three inch by three inchsquare. The media guidance application may determine that the secondarea overlaps with a location of a second entity in the frame. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the threeinch by three inch square overlaps with the location of Jack Gleeson'scharacter in “Baelor,” Joffrey Baratheon. Based on determining that thesecond area overlaps with the location of the second entity, the mediaguidance application may generate for display a second prompt foradditional input. The second prompt for additional input may indicatethe second entity as a second potential disambiguation of the ambiguousentity in the search query. For example, the media guidance applicationmay generate for display the prompt “Did you mean Jack Gleeson.”

In some aspects, the media guidance application may monitor, usingcontrol circuitry, a gaze of a user during playback of a media asset.The media guidance application may monitor the gaze of the user bymonitoring a vertical degree of an eye of the user, a horizontal degreeof the eye of the user, and a position of the eye of the user relativeto a display screen. For example, the media guidance application may usea detector, such as a camera, an infrared detector, contact lensdetector, wearable camera, wearable technology, optical sensor,augmented reality glasses, or any other suitable detector, to determinethat the eye of the user is six feet from a television playing “Baelor,”and that the eye of the user is aligned with the center of the screen at6:52 PM. The media guidance application may further use the detector todetermine that the eye of the user is at a horizontal angle of 8 degreesto the left of center and that the eye of the user is at a verticalangle of 5 degrees above center. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine a size of the display screen displaying themedia asset. For example, the media guidance application may determinethat the display screen displaying “Baelor” is a 42 inch television, andhas dimensions of 20.6 inches by 36.6 inches.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine afirst area of the display screen corresponding to the gaze of the user.In some embodiments, the media guidance application may assume that thefirst area is defined as a circle centered on the point corresponding tothe gaze of the user, or about 10 inches left of the center of thetelevision and 6 inches above the center of the television. The circlemay be any suitable radius, for example, three inches. In otherembodiments, the media guidance application may determine a plurality ofhorizontal and vertical angles at which the user's eyes paused orchanged directions (i.e., fixation points), and use those points todefine the edges or vertices of the outer bound of the first area. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may store, in a memory,a data structure indicating the first area and the current time.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive, usingthe control circuitry, a search query from the user at the current time.For example, the media guidance application may determine that the usersaid “How old is he?” using a microphone at 6:52 PM. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may determine that thesearch query includes an ambiguous entity. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that the word “he” is a pronoun thatrefers to a human or animal entity by referencing a database ofpronouns. The media guidance application may thus determine that thepronoun “he” in the search query “How old is he?” refers to an ambiguousentity.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, based ondetermining that the search query includes the ambiguous entity,retrieve, from the memory, the data structure indicating the first areaand the current time. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine a frame of the media asset that corresponds tothe current time. For example, the media guidance may extract, byexecuting an SQL script utilizing the declarative “Select” command, thecurrent time from the data structure. The media guidance application maythen retrieve a viewing log, the viewing log indicating the user'sinteractions with “Baelor.” The viewing log may indicate that the userstarted watching “Baelor” at 6:00 PM and has not stopped or paused“Baelor” since. The media guidance application may determine that 6:52PM corresponds to the frame occurring at the fifty-second minute of“Baelor” based on the viewing log.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve, from adatabase, metadata relating to the frame of the media asset thatcorresponds to the current time. The metadata may include a firstlocation of a first entity in the frame and a second location of asecond entity in the frame. For example, the media guidance applicationmay transmit a signal, to the database, requesting the metadata relatingto the frame occurring at the fifty-second minute of “Baelor” andreceive the metadata in return. The metadata may include the location ofthe Sean Bean (i.e., the first entity) in the frame occurring at thefifty-second minute of “Baelor” and the location of Jack Gleeson (i.e.,the second entity) in the same frame. In some embodiments, the firstentity and the second entity may be at least one of an actor, anactress, an object, an animal, and a character. The metadata mayindicate the first location of the first entity in the frame in anysuitable manner. For example, the metadata may use a bounding box todefine the location of the first entity, where the top left corner ofthe bounding box and the bottom right corner of the bounding box aredefined in x-y coordinates, x being the horizontal displacement, inpixels, from the center of the frame and y being the verticaldisplacement, in pixels, from the center of the frame. Any suitablecoordinate system could be used (e.g., displacement from the top leftcorner of the screen). Furthermore, any suitable definition for thefirst location of the first user may be used (e.g., the completeboundary of the first entity may be the first location or every pixelthat makes up the first entity may be the first location) in themetadata as the first location of the first entity. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may translate these coordinates todetermine the first location of the first entity and the second locationof the second entity on the display screen in a similar manner.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may extract, byexecuting an SQL script utilizing the declarative “Select” command, fromthe data structure, the first area corresponding to the current time.For example, the media guidance application may determine that the firstarea is the area outlined by a circle with a radius of three inchescentered at 10 inches left of center and 6 inches above center of thedisplay screen. In some embodiments, the media guidance application mayextract, by executing an SQL script utilizing the declarative “Select”command, from the metadata, the first location of the first entity inthe frame. For example, the media guidance application may determinethat the location of Sean Bean in the frame may be defined by a boundingbox, the upper left corner of the bounding box at 10 inches left ofcenter and 9 inches above center, and the lower right corner of thebounding box at 7 inches left of center and 5 inches above center.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatthe first area overlaps with the first location of the first entity inthe frame. For example, the media guidance application may determinethat both the first area and the location of Sean Bean encompass thesame point or that their boundaries intersect. In response, the mediaguidance application may determine that the first area and the locationof Sean Bean overlap.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatthe first area overlaps with only the first location of the first entityin the frame. In these embodiments, based on determining that the firstarea overlaps with the first location of the first entity in the frame,the media guidance application may generate for display a first promptfor additional input. The first prompt for additional input indicatesthat the first entity as a first potential disambiguation of theambiguous entity in the search query. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display the first prompt for additionalinput by generating for display a text box containing “Did you mean SeanBean?” In some embodiments, instead of generating for display the firstprompt for additional input, the media guidance application may issuethe first prompt for additional input verbally by issuing “Did you meanSean Bean?” verbally. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may cause a mobile device of the user to issue the firstprompt visually or verbally. The media guidance application maycommunicate the first prompt for additional input to the user in anysuitable manner.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatthe first area overlaps with additional locations of additionalentities. In some embodiments, the metadata may further include a thirdlocation of a third entity in the frame, and the media guidanceapplication may extract, by executing an SQL script utilizing thedeclarative “Select” command, from the metadata, the third location ofthe third entity in the frame. For example, the media guidance data maydetermine the location of Lena Headey in the frame at the fifty-secondminute of “Baelor” based on the extracting the location of Lena Headeyfrom the metadata. In some embodiments, the media guidance applicationmay determine that the first area overlaps with the third location ofthe third entity. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the first area overlaps with the location of Lena Headeyin a manner similar to as described above with respect to determine thatthe first area overlaps with the first location of the first entity.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application, based ondetermining that the first area overlaps with the third location of thethird entity and the first location of the first entity, may proceed togather additional data concerning the first entity and the third entityto choose one of the entities to indicate in the first prompt foradditional input as a potential disambiguation of the ambiguous entityin the search result.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may gatheradditional data by retrieving, from the database, a user profile of theuser. For example, the user profile of the user may indicate that theuser liked “Ned Stark” (the character played by Sean Bean) on socialmedia. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generatefor display the first prompt for additional input by generating fordisplay a text box containing “Did you mean Sean Bean?” based on theuser profile of the user. For example, the media guidance applicationmay choose Sean Bean as the first potential disambiguation of theambiguous entity because the user liked his character in “Baelor,” “NedStark,” on social media and did not like “Cersei Lannister,” LenaHeadey's character in “Baelor.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may gatheradditional data by retrieving, from the database, an indication of asocial media popularity of the first entity and a social mediapopularity of the third entity. For example, the media guidanceapplication may receive an indication that Sean Bean has 2 million likeson social media, and Lena Headey has 1 million likes on social media. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay the first prompt for additional input by generating for displaya text box containing “Did you mean Sean Bean?” based on the indication.For example, the media guidance application may choose Sean Bean as thefirst potential disambiguation of the ambiguous entity because he hasmore likes on social media than does Lena Headey.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may gatheradditional data by receiving, from the database, a knowledge graph. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may determine that thesearch query includes a pronoun. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the search query contains the pronoun“he.” In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve,using the control circuitry, from the database, metadata associating thepronoun with a characteristic of a characteristic type. For example,“he” may be associated with the characteristic “male” of thecharacteristic type “gender.” In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve, from the database, metadata about the firstentity and metadata about the second entity. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may determine, based on the metadata aboutthe first entity and metadata about the second entity, that the firstentity is associated with the characteristic and the third entity isassociated with a different characteristic of the characteristic type.For example, the media guidance application may determine that Sean Beanis associated with the characteristic “male,” but that Lena Headey isassociated with the characteristic “female” in the “gender”characteristic type. In some embodiments, the media guidance applicationmay generate for display the first prompt for additional input bygenerating for display a text box containing “Did you mean Sean Bean?”based on determining that the first entity is associated with thecharacteristic and the third entity is associated with a differentcharacteristic of the characteristic type. For example, the mediaguidance application may choose Sean Bean as the first potentialdisambiguation of the ambiguous entity because “he” refers to “males,”and Sean Bean is a male and Lena Headey is a female.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may gatheradditional data by receiving, using the control circuitry, dataindicative of a third area, calculated based on a gaze of the seconduser at the current time, from a user device of a second user. Forexample, the user may be watching “Baelor” with his girlfriend. Themedia guidance application may receive data indicating that the user'sgirlfriend was looking at a third area that was calculated based on agaze of the girlfriend at 6:52 PM. The third area may be calculated in asimilar manner as described about in relation to calculating the firstarea. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinethat the third area overlaps with the location of the first entity. Themedia guidance application may determine that the third area overlapswith the location of the first entity in a similar manner as describedabove in relation to determining that the first area overlaps with thelocation of the first entity. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display the first prompt for additionalinput by generating for display a text box containing “Did you mean SeanBean?” based on determining that the third area overlaps with thelocation of the first entity. That is, if the girlfriend of the user wasalso looking at Sean Bean, the media guidance application may determinethat it is more likely that the user was looking at Sean Bean.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may gatheradditional data by receiving, using the control circuitry, a weightingprofile from a user profile for the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may create the userprofile for the user by monitoring the gaze of the user at a prior timebefore the current time. For example, the media guidance application maymonitor the gaze of the user at 6:50 PM while the user is watching“Baelor” in a manner similar to as described above in relation tomonitoring the gaze of the user at the current time (6:52 PM). In someembodiments, the media guidance application may store, in the userprofile, a data structure indicating an area of the screen correspondingto the gaze of the user at the prior time. For example, the datastructure may indicate the area of the screen corresponding to the gazeof the user at the prior time and 6:50 PM. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may determine, a second frame of the mediaasset corresponding to the prior time. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the second frame is the frame occurringat the fiftieth minute of “Baelor” in a similar manner as described inrelation to determining the frame corresponding to the current time.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve, from adatabase, metadata relating to the second frame of the media asset, themetadata relating to the second frame indicating a location of the firstentity and a location of a third entity in the frame corresponding tothe prior time. For example, the media guidance application may retrievethe metadata relating to the frame at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor” ina similar manner as described above in relation to retrieving themetadata relating to the fifty-second minute of “Baelor.” The metadatarelating to the frame at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor” may indicatethe location of Sean Bean and may indicate the location of Lena Headeyin the frame at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor.” In some embodiments,the media guidance application may determine that the third areaoverlaps with the location of the first entity in the framecorresponding to the prior time. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the third area overlaps with the locationof Sean Bean in the frame at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor” in asimilar manner as described above in relation to determining that thefirst area overlaps with the first location of the first entity in theframe corresponding to the current time.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application, based ondetermining that the third area overlaps with the location of the firstentity in the frame corresponding to the prior time, may store, in theuser profile, a data structure indicating the first entity, the framecorresponding to the prior time, and the third area. For example, themedia guidance application may store a data structure indicating SeanBean, the frame at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor,” and the third areain the user profile. In some embodiments, the media guidance applicationmay further store, in the user profile, the weighting profile. Theweighting profile may assign a first weight to the first entity, asecond weight to the second entity, and a third weight to the thirdentity. For example, the media guidance application may store aweighting profile indicating that Sean Bean is assigned a weight of 40%,Jack Gleeson is assigned a weight of 30%, and Lena Headey is assigned aweight of 30%, based on the third area overlapping with the location ofSean Bean in the frame at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor.” The weightingprofile may indicate, for example, how often a user has viewed each ofthe entities.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application receives theweighting profile from the user profile of the user, the media guidanceapplication may extract, from the weighting profile, the first weightand the third weight, based on determining that the first area overlapswith the third location of the third entity and the first location ofthe first entity in the frame corresponding to the current time. Forexample, the media guidance application may extract, by executing an SQLscript utilizing the declarative “Select” command, the weight of 40% forSean Bean and the weight of 30% for Lena Headey based on determiningthat the first area overlaps with the location of Sean Bean and thelocation of Lena Headey in the frame at the fifty-second minute of“Baelor.” In some embodiments, the media guidance application maydetermine that the first weight is greater than the third weight. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay the first prompt for additional input by generating for displaya text box containing “Did you mean Sean Bean?” based on determiningthat the first weight is greater than the third weight. The mediaguidance application may determine that the user viewed Sean Bean moreoften than Lena Headey by determining that the weight of 40% for SeanBean is greater than the weight of 30% for Lena Headey, and thus choseSean Bean as the first potential disambiguation of the ambiguous entity.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may additionallystore, in the user profile, a data structure indicating a plurality ofentities that correspond to the gaze of the user at a plurality oftimes. In some embodiments, the media guidance application maycontinuously monitor the gaze of the user at the plurality of times. Themedia guidance application may compare the monitored gaze of the userwith metadata relating to each frame corresponding to the plurality oftimes at which the media guidance application monitored the gaze of theuser in a manner similar to as described above in relation todetermining that the first area overlaps with the first location of thefirst entity in the frame. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may add each entity that corresponds to the gaze of the userat the plurality of times to the data structure. The media guidanceapplication may store, in the user profile, the data structurecontaining each entity. For example, at a time prior to the currenttime, the media guidance application may determine that the user lookedat Sean Bean, and add “Sean Bean” to the data structure.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve, fromthe user profile, the data structure indicating the plurality ofentities that correspond to the gaze of the user at a plurality of timesbased on determining that the first area overlaps with the thirdlocation of the third entity and the first location of the first entityin the frame corresponding to the current time. The media guidanceapplication may compare the first entity and the third entity to thedata structure indicating the plurality of entities to determine thatthe first entity is in the data structure indicating the plurality ofentities and that the third entity is not in the data structureindicating the plurality of entities. For example, the media guidanceapplication may extract, by executing an SQL script utilizing thedeclarative “Select” command, the plurality of entities based ondetermining that the first area overlaps with the location of Sean Beanand the location of Lena Headey in the frame at the fifty-second minuteof “Baelor.” The media guidance application may determine that Sean Beanis in the plurality of entities, and that Lena Headey is not. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may generate for display thefirst prompt for additional input by generating for display a text boxcontaining “Did you mean Sean Bean?” based on determining that the firstentity is in the data structure indicating the plurality of entities andthat the third entity is not in the data structure indicating theplurality of entities.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive anegative input from the user subsequent to generating for display, orverbally issuing, the first prompt for additional input. The negativeinput may indicate that the first entity is an incorrect disambiguationof the ambiguous entity in the search question. For example, after themedia guidance application generates for display the text box containing“Did you mean Sean Bean?”, the user may say “No.” or “No, the otherone.” to indicate that the user was not asking about the age of SeanBean. In some embodiments, if the third entity was also in the firstarea, the media guidance application may also generate a promptindicating the third entity as a potential disambiguation of theambiguous entity.

In some embodiments, based on receiving the negative input, the mediaguidance application may attempt to find additional entities that maydisambiguate the ambiguous entity in the search query.

In some embodiments, in order to find additional entities that maydisambiguate the ambiguous entity in the search query, the mediaguidance application may expand the first area to a second area of thedisplay screen, the second area being larger than the first area. Forexample, the media guidance application may expand the first area, acircle centered at 10 inches left of center and 6 inches above centerwith a radius of 3 inches, to a second area, a circle centered at 10inches left of center and 6 inches above center with a radius of 6inches.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may extract, fromthe metadata, the second location of the second entity in the framecorresponding to the current time. For example, the media guidanceapplication may extract, by executing an SQL script utilizing thedeclarative “Select” command, the second location of the second entityin the frame, and determine that the second location of the secondentity is Jack Gleeson in the frame may be defined by a bounding box,the upper left corner of the bounding box at 5 inches left of center and7 inches above center, and the lower right corner of the bounding box at2 inches left of center and 3 inches above center. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may determine that the second areaoverlaps with the second location of the second entity. The mediaguidance application may determine that the second area overlaps withthe second location of the second entity in a similar manner asdescribed above in relation to determining that the first area overlapswith the first location of the first entity.

In some embodiments, based on determining that the second area overlapswith the second location of the second entity in the frame, the mediaguidance application may generate for display a second prompt foradditional input. The second prompt for additional input indicates thesecond entity as a second potential disambiguation of the ambiguousentity in the search query. For example, the media guidance applicationmay generate for display the second prompt for additional input bygenerating for display a text box containing “Did you mean JackGleeson?” In some embodiments, instead of generating for display thesecond prompt for additional input, the media guidance application mayissue the second prompt for additional input verbally by issuing “Didyou mean Jack Gleeson?” verbally.

In some embodiments, in addition to the media guidance applicationattempting to find additional entities that may disambiguate theambiguous entity in the search query, the media guidance application mayupdate the user profile based on the negative input. For example, themedia guidance application, based on receiving the negative input fromthe user (e.g., the user saying “No.” subsequent to the media guidanceapplication generating for display the text box containing “Did you meanSean Bean?”), the media guidance application may retrieve the datastructure indicating the first entity, the frame corresponding to theprior time, and the third area. For example, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve the data structure indicating Sean Bean, theframe at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor,” and the third area from theuser profile. In some embodiments, the media guidance application mayretrieve, based on the third data structure, the metadata relating tothe frame corresponding to the prior time. For example, the mediaguidance application may retrieve the metadata relating to the frame atthe fiftieth minute of “Baelor” that indicates the location of Sean Beanand the location of Lena Headey in the frame at the fiftieth minute of“Baelor.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may extract, fromthe third data structure, the third area. For example, the mediaguidance application, may extract, by executing an SQL script utilizingthe declarative “Select” command, the third area from the data structureindicating Sean Bean, the frame at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor,” andthe third area. In some embodiments, the media guidance application mayexpand the third area to a fourth area of the display screen, the fourtharea being larger than the third area. For example, the media guidancemay expand the third area to a fourth area in a similar manner asdescribed above in relation to expanding the first area to the secondarea. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may extractthe fourth location of the third entity from the metadata relating tothe frame corresponding to the prior time. For example, the mediaguidance application may extract the location of Lena Headey from themetadata relating to the frame at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatthe fourth area overlaps with the location of the third entity in theframe corresponding to the prior time. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the fourth area overlaps with thelocation of Lena Headey in the frame at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor.”The media guidance application may do so in a manner similar to asdescribed above in relation to determining that the first area overlapswith the first location of the first entity.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, based ondetermining that the fourth area overlaps with the location of the thirdentity in the frame corresponding to the prior time and that the secondarea overlaps with the second location of the second entity, decreasethe first weight in the weighting profile by a first amount, increasethe second weight by a second amount, and increase the third weight bythe second amount. For example, the media guidance application maydecrease the weight for Sean Bean from 40% to 30% as the media guidanceapplication determined, based on the negative response, that the userwas not looking at Sean Bean, and increase the weights for Jack Gleesonand Lena Headey from 30% to 35%.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive,subsequent to generating for display the second prompt for additionalinput, an affirmative input from the user. The affirmative input mayindicate that the second entity is a correct disambiguation of theambiguous entity in the search query. For example, the media guidanceapplication may, after the media guidance application generates fordisplay the second prompt for additional input (i.e., the text boxcontaining “Did you mean Jack Gleeson?”), detect the user saying “Yes!”In some embodiments, the media guidance application may update the userprofile and gather additional information about the disambiguated entitybased on the affirmative input.

In some embodiments, to update the user profile, the media guidanceapplication may, based on receiving the affirmative input, decrease thefirst weight by an amount and increase the second weight by the amount.For example, the media guidance application may decrease the weightassigned to Sean Bean from 40% to 30%, as the media guidance applicationnow knows that the user was not looking at Sean Bean, and increase theweight assigned to Jack Gleeson from 30% to 40%. The media guidanceapplication may not adjust the weight assigned to Lena Headey becausethe media guidance application has received no additional informationabout Lena Headey from the conversation with the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may gather andgenerate for display additional information relating to the secondentity based on receiving the affirmative input. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may gather additional information bysearching, based on receiving the affirmative input, the database formedia content that includes the second entity. For example, the mediaguidance application may search a database for metadata tags on mediacontent indicating that Jack Gleeson was an actor in the media content.In some embodiments, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay listing for the media content that includes the second entity.For example, the media guidance application may determine that JackGleeson acted in the “Killinskully” series, in “Batman Begins” and in“All Good Children.” The media guidance application may generate fordisplay listings for the “Killinskully” series or for only episodes ofthe “Killinskully” series that contain Jack Gleeson, for “Batman Begins”and for “All Good Children.” The media guidance application may allowthe user to select the listings and access the media content.

The described systems and methods can disambiguate an ambiguous entityin a search query based on an adaptive system using the gaze of a userwho put forth the search query. Conventional systems, while using thegaze of the user, determined a number of objects corresponding to thegaze of the user, and if none of these objects were the correctdisambiguation of the ambiguous entity, could not adapt in an attempt tofind potential additional objects that could disambiguate the ambiguousentity. This could leave the user without an answer to his or her searchquery or leave the conventional system to simply guess at the correctanswer, likely frustrating the user. The past conventional systems didnot appreciate increasing the search area to include objects or entitiesthat were not necessarily directly in the line of sight of the user. Thedescribed systems and methods, by expanding a first area correspondingto the gaze of the user from a first area to a second, larger area tofind additional entities in the frame based on determining that anentity in the first area was the incorrect disambiguation of theambiguous entity in the search query, will continuously find moreobjects that may disambiguate the ambiguous entity in a search querybased on the gaze of the user. Thus, the systems and methods achieve theaccuracy of using gaze to disambiguate a search query whilesimultaneously including flexibility such that additional entities canbe found if the direct view of the user did not yield the correctresult. The described systems and methods additionally describe buildingand adapting a user profile, which allows the described systems andmethods to determine what the user likes or looks at the most often, andwill help the systems and methods to more quickly determine the correctentity to disambiguate the ambiguous entity in the search query.

It should be noted the systems and/or methods described above may beapplied to, or used in accordance with, other systems, methods and/orapparatuses described in this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of a media guidance applicationmonitoring the gaze of a user and receiving a search query including anambiguous entity, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative example of a media guidance applicationincorrectly disambiguating a search query including an ambiguous entitybased on monitoring the gaze of a user, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative example of a media guidance applicationcorrectly disambiguating a search query based on increasing the area ofthe users gaze, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative example of a media guidance applicationreceiving and disambiguating a search query with an ambiguous entityfrom a first user based on the monitored gaze of the first and seconduser, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative example of a display screen for use inaccessing media content, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 6 shows another illustrative example of a display screen used inaccessing media content, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment device, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for disambiguating anambiguous entity in a search query based on the gaze of a user, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for creating a user profilebased on the gaze of a user, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for monitoring the gaze ofa user, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure; and

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for determining that asearch query includes an ambiguous entity, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods are described herein for disambiguation of anambiguous entity in a search query based on the gaze of a user. Thesesystems and methods may be implemented by a media guidance application(e.g., executed by user equipment associated with the user). In someaspects, the media guidance application may monitor the gaze of the userand attempt to disambiguate the ambiguous entity based on an area of thescreen the user viewed while issuing the search query. If the mediaguidance application receives an indication that it did not disambiguatethe ambiguous entity in the search query correctly, the media guidanceapplication may increase the area of the screen that the user viewed inorder to find an additional entity. This may allow the media guidanceapplication to quickly and accurately find the correct answer to theuser's search query.

For example, a user may be watching a media asset (e.g., episode 9 ofseason 1 of “Game of Thrones,” entitled “Baelor”) and may want to knowhow old is an actor (e.g., Jack Gleeson) who plays one of the characters(e.g., Joffrey Baratheon) in the media asset. The user may ask “How oldis he?” when Joffrey Baratheon is present in a scene. Based ondetermining that the area of the screen corresponding to the gaze of theuser contains Ned Stark, played by Sean Bean, the media guidanceapplication may answer with “Did you a mean Sean Bean?” Upon the userresponding “No,” the media guidance application may increase the area ofthe screen: if the increased area includes Joffrey Baratheon, the mediaguidance application may answer with “Did you mean Jack Gleeson?” Inthis way, the media guidance application may quickly identify anddisambiguate the ambiguous entity included in the user's search request,without having to guess every entity in the frame.

The media guidance application may monitor the gaze of the user duringplayback of “Baelor.” The media guidance application may determine anarea of the screen that the user is looking at continuously, atpredetermined intervals, randomly, or during any other suitable timeframe. The media guidance application may store, in a user profileassociated with the first user, data indicating what area the user waslooking at each time the media guidance application monitored the gazeof the user. For example, at 6:50 PM, the media guidance application maydetermine a first area of the screen that corresponds to the user's gazeat 6:50 PM. The media guidance application may determine that the framebeing generated for display at 6:50 PM was the frame at the fiftiethminute of “Baelor.” The media guidance application may compare the firstarea to the metadata associated with the frame at the fiftieth minute of“Baelor” to determine that the user was looking at Ned Stark, played bySean Bean. The media guidance application may store, in the userprofile, indications of the time (e.g., 6:50 PM), the frame (e.g., theframe at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor), and the entity (e.g., SeanBean) that the user viewed at 6:50 PM. The media guidance applicationmay also store a weighting profile in the user profile, which indicateshow important an entity is (or how often the user looks at said entity).

At a second time after the first time (e.g., 6:52 PM), the mediaguidance application may determine a second area that corresponds to thegaze of the user at that time. The media guidance application may alsodetect that a user says “How old is he?” and may then determine that theuse of the pronoun “he” in the question indicates that the questionincludes an ambiguous entity. In response, the media guidanceapplication may seek to narrow the possible entities that correspond tothe ambiguous entity in the question. To do so, the media guidanceapplication may determine a frame that corresponds to the current timeat which the question was asked, which may be the frame occurring at thefifty-second minute of “Baelor.” Once the frame is identified, the mediaguidance application may retrieve metadata about that frame, such as thelocation of a first entity (e.g., Ned Stark played by Sean Bean), secondentity (e.g., Joffrey Baratheon played by Jack Gleeson), and a thirdentity (e.g., Cersei Lannister played by Lena Headey) in the frame. Notethat entities may be actors, actresses, objects, or characters, or anyother suitable entity in a frame.

The media guidance application may then determine whether the secondarea overlaps with any of the locations of the first entity, the secondentity, or the third entity. For example, the media guidance applicationmay determine that the second area overlaps with only the first entity.If this is the case, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay to the user a prompt that says “Did you mean Sean Bean?”

However, the second area may overlap with, for example, the first andthird entities. The media guidance application may then determine whichentity to prompt the user with. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine, from the weighting profile stored in the userprofile, that Sean Bean has a greater weight than Lena Headey, which mayindicate that the user has viewed Sean Bean more often than the user hasviewed Lena Headey. As a result, the media guidance application may askthe user if he or she meant Sean Bean. Additionally or alternatively,the media guidance application may access a social media popularity ofSean Bean and Lena Headey, and based on the information therein,determine that, for example, Sean Bean is more popular, and thus ask theuser if he or she meant Sean Bean. Additionally or alternatively, themedia guidance application may use the gaze of other users who are alsoviewing “Baelor” to determine whether to prompt the user with the firstentity or the third entity. For example, if another user was looking atSean Bean at the current time the question was posed, the media guidanceapplication may, as a result, ask the user if he or she meant Sean Bean.Additionally or alternatively, the media guidance application may use aknowledge graph to determine that the pronoun only applies to one of thefirst entity and the third entity. For example, because the pronoun “he”in the question indicates that the user is referring a male, the mediaguidance application may ask the user if he or she meant Sean Bean,because Sean Bean is male and Lena Headey is female.

The media guidance application may then receive the user's response tothe inquiry. For example, the user may then respond “no” or “the otherone” to the media guidance application's prompt “Did you mean SeanBean?” In response, the media guidance application may attempt todetermine another entity that may disambiguate the search query andadjust the user profile. For example, in order to determine anotherentity, if the third entity was in the second area, the media guidanceapplication may prompt the user with the third entity. However, assumingthat the third entity was not in the second area, the media guidanceapplication may expand the second area, and determine that, for example,the second entity (e.g., Joffrey Baratheon played by Jack Gleeson) is inthe expanded second area. Additionally, the media guidance applicationmay access previously stored data about the users gaze and furtheranalyze that data to edit the user profile. For example, the mediaguidance application may access the information stored at 6:50 PM, thatis, that the user was looking at Sean Bean in the frame at the fiftiethminute of “Baelor.” The media guidance application may expand the firstarea (i.e., the area that corresponded to the user's gaze at 6:50 PM) todetermine that the expanded first area overlaps with the third entity.Because the system has not yet determined whether the user was lookingat the second entity (e.g., Joffrey Baratheon played by Jack Gleeson) orthe third entity (e.g., Cersei Lannister played by Lena Headey), themedia guidance application may decrease the weight of Sean Bean in theweighting profile, as the user was definitely not looking at Sean Bean,and increase the weight of Lena Headey and Jack Gleeson equally.

If the media guidance application determines that Jack Gleeson is in theexpanded second area of the fifty-second frame of “Baelor,” the mediaguidance application may issue the audio prompt “Did you mean JackGleeson?” If the user answers “yes” to the media guidance application'sprompt, the media guidance application may then determine the answer tothe user's question, provide additional information about the secondentity, and edit the user profile. For example, the media guidanceapplication may answer the question “How old is he?” by saying orgenerating for display “24.” Furthermore, the media guidance applicationmay display a listing for the show “Killinskully” or the movie “BatmanBegins,” both of which contain Jack Gleeson, biographical informationabout Jack Gleeson, or any other appropriate information about JackGleeson. Finally, the media guidance application may adjust theweighting profile in the user profile of the user by decreasing theweight of Sean Bean (because the media guidance application now knowsthat the user was not looking at Sean Bean) and increase the weight ofJack Gleeson.

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example 100 of a media guidance applicationmonitoring the gaze of a user and receiving a search query including anambiguous entity, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.For example, user 102 may be viewing playback of a media asset ondisplay 114, which may have height 126. Eye 104 of user 102 may bemonitored by detector 112. Currently, where eye 104 is looking maycorrespond to gaze 108. Gaze 108 may be at a vertical degree 110 fromreference gaze 106. Eye 104 of user 102 may be located at distance 124away from display 114. Gaze 108 may correspond to area 116, which mayoverlap with the location of entity 118 in the media asset beingdisplayed on display 114. Area 116 may not overlap with the location ofentity 120 in the media asset being displayed on display 114. In someembodiments, entity 118 and entity 120 may be at least one of an actor,an actress, an object, an animal, and a character. While user 102 iswatching the media asset on display 114, the user may utter search query122 (i.e., “What other television show was he in?”).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may monitor, usingcontrol circuitry, gaze 108 of user 102 during playback of the mediaasset on display 114. The media guidance application may monitor gaze108 of user 102 by monitoring vertical degree 110 of eye 104 of user102, a horizontal degree of eye 104 of user 102 (e.g., horizontal angle210 of FIG. 2 below), and a position of eye 104 of user 102 relative todisplay 114. Detector 112 may be a camera, an infrared detector, contactlens detector, wearable camera, wearable technology, optical sensor, orany other suitable detector for determining the motion/angle of eye 104and the position of eye 104 relative to display 114. In order to notovercomplicate the drawing, a single detector is shown, however,multiple detectors may used. For example, if detector 112 is a camera,the media guidance application may use a reference point in the room todetermine the position of eye 104 relative to the reference point. Usingthis position, the media guidance application may determine, based onthe position of the eye relative to the reference point, and a positionof the reference point from display 114, determine the position of eye104 relative to display 114. Additionally or alternatively, the mediaguidance application may use an average size of the head of a human tomodel the size of the head of user 102, and based on this information,determine the position of eye 104, including distance 124, from display114. Additionally or alternatively, the media guidance application mayuse two detectors to capture images of the room to determine theposition of eye 104 relative to display 114. The media guidanceapplication may determine the position of eye 104 of user 102 bydetermining distance 124, as well as a vertical displacement from thecenter of display 114 and a horizontal displacement from the center ofdisplay 114. For example, the media guidance application may usedetector 112 to determine that eye 104 of user 102 is located atdistance 124, which may be six feet, from display 114 playing the mediaasset “Baelor,” and that eye 104 of user 102 is aligned with the centerof display 114 at 6:52 PM.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may also determinevertical angle 110 from reference gaze 106 using detector 112. Referencegaze 106 may be the gaze at which eye 104 of user 102 is directed at thecenter of display 114, may be the gaze of eye 104 of user 102 if theywere to look straight ahead and level with the vertical displacement ofeye 104, or any other suitable reference determined by the mediaguidance application. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine reference gaze 106 to be the gaze at which eye 104 of user 102is directed at the center of screen by prompting user 102 to look at anobject at the center of display 114 and determining reference gaze 106using an image taken by detector 112 of eye 104 of user 102 at thattime.

The media guidance application may determine vertical angle 106 of gaze108 with respect to reference gaze 106 using detector 112. For example,the media guidance application may control the detector 112 to emit aninfrared light towards eye 104 of user 102. The media guidanceapplication may receive, from detector 112, an image of eye 104 of user102. Using contrast imaging, in some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine the location of the pupil of eye 104 of user102 and the location of a reflection of the infrared light emitted bydetector 112. The media guidance application may additionally oralternatively use other light sources in a similar manner. The mediaguidance application may determine a vector between the pupil of eye 104and the location of the reflection to determine vertical angle 110 and ahorizontal angle (i.e., horizontal angle 210 of FIG. 2) of gaze 108 ofeye 104 of user 102 with respect to reference gaze 106. For example, themedia guidance application may use detector 112 to determine that gaze108 of eye 104 of user 102 is at a horizontal angle of 8 degrees to theleft reference gaze 106 and that gaze 108 of eye 104 of user 102 is atvertical angle 110 from reference gaze 106. For example, vertical anglemight be 5 degrees above reference gaze 106. More details on determiningvertical angle 110 of gaze 108 from reference gaze 106 are presentedbelow in relation to FIG. 11.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine a sizeof display screen 114 displaying the media asset. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that display 114 is a 42 inchtelevision, and has height 126, which may be 20.6 inches, and a width(e.g., width 228 of FIG. 2) of 36.6 inches. For example, the mediaguidance application may receive a data packet from display 114 thatindicates the dimensions of display 114, the diagonal size of display114, the resolution of display 114, or any other suitable attribute ofdisplay 114.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine area116 of display 114 corresponding to gaze 108 of user 102. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may assume that area 116 isdefined as a circle centered on the point corresponding to gaze 108 ofuser 102. For example, the media guidance application may determine thatthe point corresponding to gaze 108 of user 102 is about 10 inches leftof the center of display 114 and 6 inches above the center of display114 based on vertical angle 110 (e.g., approximately 5 degrees above thecenter of display 114), a horizontal angle of gaze 108 (e.g., horizontalangle 210 of FIG. 2, or approximately 8 degrees left of the center ofdisplay 114), the position of eye 104 of user 102 (i.e., aligned withthe center display 114), and distance 124 (e.g., six feet) of eye 104from the display 114. The media guidance application may determine thepoint corresponding to gaze 108 of user 102 using the followingfunctions: X_(gaze 108)=x_(eye)+(distance 124)*tan(horizontal angle)andy_(gaze 108)=y_(eye)+(distance 124)*tan(vertical angle 110). Area 116may be any suitable radius, for example, three inches. In otherembodiments, the media guidance application may determine a plurality ofhorizontal and vertical angles at which the user's eyes paused orchanged directions (i.e., fixation points), and use those points todefine the edges or vertices of the outer bound of area 116 (e.g.,fixation points 450, 452, and 454 of FIG. 4). In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may store, in a memory, a data structureindicating the area 116 and the current time (i.e., 6:52 PM).

While the preceding embodiments discuss determining area 116 on twodimensional display 114, in some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may display the media asset as a 360 degree monoscopic video(e.g., on a virtual reality headset). In such embodiments, the mediaguidance application may use detector 112, which may be a virtualreality headset, camera, virtual reality glasses, infrared sensor, orany other suitable detector, to determine vertical angle 110 of eye 104of user 102 and a horizontal angle of eye 104 of user 102 in a similarmanner to as described above. Detector 112 may additionally determine aposition the head of user 102. In the case of a virtual reality headset,the media guidance application may use detector 112 to determine theposition (which may include the angle of the head of user 102 and thedirection user 102 is facing) of the head of user 102 using a gyroscope,accelerometer, or any other suitable measuring tool. The media guidanceapplication may use vertical angle 110, the horizontal angle, theposition of the head of user 102 to determine gaze 108 of user 102. Themedia guidance application may further determine distance 124 (which maybe a virtual distance) from the displayed media asset. For example, themedia guidance application may receive an indication of distance 124from a media content source. The media guidance application may use thedetermined gaze 108 of user 102 and distance 124 to determine an area116 of the displayed media asset that corresponds to gaze 108. Forexample, the media guidance application may project gaze 108 on a twodimensional plane representing the 360 monoscopic video using thedistance 124. The media guidance application may then determine area 116in a manner similar to as described above in relation to determiningarea 116 on display 114.

In some embodiments, the media asset may displayed as a threedimensional, 360 degree stereoscopic video. The media guidanceapplication may determine vertical angle 110 of eye 104 of user 102, thehorizontal angle of eye 104 of user 102, the position of the head ofuser 102 in a similar manner to as described above in relation todetermining the same values for a 360 degree monoscopic video. The mediaguidance application may additionally determine the vertical angle of asecond eye of user 102 and the horizontal angle of the second eye ofuser 102. The media guidance application may determine gaze 108 of eye104 and a gaze of the second eye of user 102. The media guidanceapplication may determine the focal depth of eye 104 and the second eye(“the eyes”) of user 102. For example, the media guidance applicationmay determine a vergence of gaze 108 and the gaze of the second eyebased on the determined gaze 108 and the gaze of the second eye and thedistance between eye 104 and the second eye. The media guidanceapplication may then determine a volume corresponding to the focal depthof the eyes of user 102. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the point corresponding to the vergence of gaze 108 andthe gaze of the second eye, and may determine that the volume is asphere surrounding the point corresponding to the vergence.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive searchquery 122 from user 102 at the current time. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that user 102 spoke search query 122using detector 112 at 6:52 PM. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine that search query 122 includes an ambiguousentity. For example, the media guidance application may determine thatthe word “he” in search query 122 is a pronoun that refers to a human oranimal entity by referencing a database of pronouns. The media guidanceapplication may thus determine that the pronoun “he” in search query 122refers to an ambiguous entity. More details regarding determining thatsearch query 122 includes an ambiguous entity are discussed below inrelation to FIG. 12.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may create a userprofile for user 102 by monitoring gaze 108 of user 102 at a prior timebefore the current time. For example, the media guidance application maymonitor gaze 108 of user 102 at 6:50 PM while user 102 is watching themedia asset on display 114 in a manner similar to as described above inrelation to monitoring gaze 108 of user 102 at the current time (6:52PM). In some embodiments, the media guidance application may store, inthe user profile, a data structure indicating an area of the screencorresponding to gaze 108 of user 102 at the prior time. The mediaguidance application may determine the area corresponding to gaze 108 ofuser 102 at the prior time in a similar manner as described above fordetermining area 116. For example, the data structure may indicate thearea of the screen corresponding to gaze 108 of user 102 at the priortime and 6:50 PM. In some embodiments, the media guidance applicationmay determine a frame of the media asset corresponding to the priortime. For example, in order to determine the frame of the media assetcorresponding to the prior time, the media guidance application may thenretrieve a viewing log. The viewing log may indicate interactions withthe media guidance application, specifically, the viewing log mayindicate what media assets were selected, at what time, and whether anyof the media assets were paused, played, fast forwarded, rewound, etc.and at what time, and for what duration, such actions were input. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the viewinglog indicates that user 102 started watching “Baelor” at 6:00 PM and hasnot stopped or paused “Baelor” since. The media guidance application maytherefore determine that 6:50 PM corresponds to the frame occurring atthe fiftieth minute of “Baelor” based on the viewing log. For example,the media guidance application may determine that the framecorresponding to the prior time is the frame occurring at the fiftiethminute of “Baelor.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve, from adatabase, metadata relating to the frame of the media assetcorresponding to the prior time, the metadata relating to the framecorresponding to the prior time indicating a location of entity 118 anda location of a third entity in the frame corresponding to the priortime. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve themetadata relating to the frame at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor” bytransmitting a signal, to the database, requesting the metadata relatingto the frame occurring at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor” and receivedata packets containing the metadata in return. The metadata may includethe location of entity 118 (i.e., Sean Bean) in the frame occurring atthe fiftieth minute of “Baelor” and the location of Lena Headey (i.e.,the third entity) in the same frame. The metadata may indicate thelocation of entity 118 in the frame corresponding to the prior time inany suitable manner. For example, the metadata may use a bounding box todefine the location of entity 118, where the top left corner of thebounding box and the bottom right corner of the bounding box are definedin x-y coordinates, x being the horizontal displacement, in pixels, fromthe center of the frame and y being the vertical displacement, inpixels, from the center of the frame. Any suitable coordinate systemcould be used (e.g., displacement from the top left corner of thescreen). Furthermore, any suitable definition for the location of theentity 118 in the frame corresponding to the prior time may be used. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that the metadatadefines the complete, complex boundary of entity 118, may define everypixel that makes up entity 118, may define an oval or circle encirclingentity 118, or may define a loose boundary that connects edges of entity118. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may translatethese coordinates to determine the location of entity 118 in the framecorresponding to the prior time to determine the location of entity 118in coordinates that are on the same scale as display 114. In someembodiments, the metadata relating to the frame at the fiftieth minuteof “Baelor” may indicate the location of Sean Bean and may indicate thelocation of Lena Headey in the frame at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor”in any of the above described manner.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatthe area corresponding to gaze 108 of user 102 at the prior timeoverlaps with the location of entity 118 in the frame corresponding tothe prior time. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the area corresponding to gaze 108 of user 102 at theprior time overlaps with the location of entity 118 in the framecorresponding to the prior time be determining that the areacorresponding to gaze 108 of user 102 at the prior time includes a pixelor a point that the location of entity 118 also includes. In someembodiments, the media guidance application generates the media assetfor displays as a three dimensional, 360 degree stereoscopic video, themedia guidance application may determine that the volume correspondingto focal depth of user 102 overlaps with a location of entity 118 in theframe corresponding to the prior time. In these embodiments, thelocation of entity 118 in the frame corresponding to the prior time maybe defined in any suitable manner, such as a three dimensional boundingbox. The media guidance application may determine the the volumecorresponding to the focal depth of user 102 overlaps with the threedimension bounding box of entity 118 by determining that the volumecontains the same point in space at the three dimensional bounding box.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application, based ondetermining that the area corresponding to gaze 108 of user 102 at theprior time overlaps with the location of entity 118 in the framecorresponding to the prior time, may store, in the user profile, a datastructure indicating the first entity, the frame corresponding to theprior time, and the third area. For example, the media guidanceapplication may store a data structure indicating Sean Bean, the frameat the fiftieth minute of “Baelor,” and the area corresponding to gaze108 of user 102 at the prior time in the user profile. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may further store, in theuser profile, a weighting profile. The weighting profile may assign afirst weight to entity 118, a second weight to the entity 120, and athird weight to the third entity. For example, the media guidanceapplication may store a weighting profile indicating that Sean Bean(i.e., entity 118) is assigned a weight of 40%, Jack Gleeson (i.e.entity 120) is assigned a weight of 30%, and Lena Headey is assigned aweight of 30%, based on the area corresponding to gaze 108 of user 102at the prior time overlapping with the location of Sean Bean in theframe at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor.” The weighting profile mayindicate, for example, how often user 102 has viewed each of theentities, how much time user 102 has spent looking at each of theentities, or how important each of the entities is to user 102.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may additionallystore, in the user profile, a data structure indicating a plurality ofentities that correspond to gaze 108 of user 102 at a plurality of timesprior to the current time.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may continuouslymonitor gaze 108 of user 102 at the plurality of times. The mediaguidance application may compare gaze 108 of user 102 with metadatarelating to each frame corresponding to the plurality of times at whichthe media guidance application monitored gaze 108 of user 102 in amanner similar to as described above in relation to determining that thearea 116 with the location of entity 118 in the frame. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may add each entity thatcorresponds to the gaze of the user at the plurality of times to thedata structure. The media guidance application may store, in the userprofile, the data structure containing each entity. For example, at atime prior to the current time, the media guidance application maydetermine that the user looked at entity 118 (e.g., Sean Bean), and addan indication of entity 118 to the data structure.

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative example 200 of a media guidance applicationincorrectly disambiguating a search query including an ambiguous entitybased on monitoring the gaze of a user, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. For example, user 202 may be viewingplayback of a media asset on display 214, which may have width 228,which may be determined in a similar manner as described above inrelation to determining height 126 in relation to FIG. 1. Eye 204 ofuser 202 may be monitored by detector 212. Gaze 208 may be monitored bydetector 212, specifically, horizontal angle 210 from reference gaze 206may be monitored by detector 212. Based on distance 224 from display214, horizontal angle 210, a vertical angle from reference gaze 206, andthe position of eye 204 of user 202, the media guidance application maydetermine area 216 corresponding to gaze 208 of user 202. Area 216 mayoverlap with the location of entity 218, but may not overlap with thelocation of entity 220. In response to search query 122 of FIG. 1, themedia guidance application may generate for display, on display 214,prompt 230. User 202 may respond to prompt 230 with negative input 222.Detector 212 may monitor gaze 208 and horizontal angle 210 in a similarmanner to as described about with regards to monitoring gaze 108 withdetector 112 in FIG. 1. Additionally, area 216 may correspond to area116 of FIG. 1.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, based ondetermining that search query 122 of FIG. 1 includes the ambiguousentity, retrieve, from the memory, a data structure indicating area 216(which may correspond to area 116 of FIG. 1 above) and the current time.In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine aframe of the media asset displayed on display 214 that corresponds tothe current time. For example, the media guidance may extract, byexecuting an SQL script utilizing the declarative “Select” command, thecurrent time from the data structure. The media guidance application maydetermine that 6:52 PM corresponds to the frame occurring at thefifty-second minute of “Baelor” in a similar manner as described abovewith regards to determining the frame of the media asset correspondingto the prior time in relation to FIG. 1.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve, from adatabase, metadata relating to the frame of the media asset thatcorresponds to the current time. The metadata may include a location ofentity 218 in the frame and a location of entity 220 in the frame. Forexample, the media guidance application may transmit a signal, to thedatabase, requesting the metadata relating to the frame occurring at thefifty-second minute of “Baelor” and receive data packets with themetadata in return. The metadata may include the location of entity 218(i.e., Sean Bean) in the frame occurring at the fifty-second minute of“Baelor” and the location of entity 220 (i.e., Jack Gleeson) in the sameframe. The metadata may indicate the location of entity 218 and thelocation of entity 220 in the frame in any manner as described above inrelation to indicating the location of entity 118 and the location ofthe third entity in the frame occurring at the fiftieth minute of“Baelor.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may extract, byexecuting an SQL script utilizing the declarative “Select” command, fromthe data structure, the area 216 corresponding to the current time. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine that area 216 isdefined by a circle with a radius of three inches centered at 10 inchesleft of center and 6 inches above center of display 214. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may extract, by executing anSQL script utilizing the declarative “Select” command, from themetadata, the location of entity 218 in the frame. For example, themedia guidance application may determine that the location of entity 218in the frame may be defined by a bounding box, the upper left corner ofthe bounding box at 10 inches left of center and 9 inches above center,and the lower right corner of the bounding box at 7 inches left ofcenter and 5 inches above center.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thelocation of entity 218 using facial recognition software or objectrecognition software. For example, the media guidance application mayanalyze, using facial recognition software, the frame at the currenttime to determine the identity of entity 218 and the location of a headof entity 218. The media guidance application may then use imageanalysis software to determine a body of entity 218. The media guidanceapplication may determine that the location of entity 218 is defined bythe location of the body of entity 218 and the location of the head ofentity 218. As another illustrative example, the media guidanceapplication may use object recognition software to determine thelocation of entity 218. For example, if entity 218 is a specific sword,the media guidance application may analyze the scene using objectrecognition software to determine the location of a sword in the frame,and then compare the sword to an image of the specific sword todetermine that entity 218 is the specific sword. The media guidanceapplication may determine that the location of entity 218 is thelocation of the sword in the frame based on the comparison.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatarea 218 overlaps with the location of entity 218 in the frame in amanner similar to as discussed above in relation to determining that thearea corresponding to gaze 108 of user 102 at the prior time overlapswith the location of entity 118 in the frame corresponding to the priortime. In some embodiments, based on determining that area 216 overlapswith the location of entity 218 in the frame, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display prompt 230, which may prompt theuser to input additional information. Prompt 230 indicates that entity218 may be a first potential disambiguation of the ambiguous entity insearch query 122 of FIG. 1. For example, the media guidance applicationmay generate for display prompt 230 by generating for display a text boxcontaining “Did you mean Sean Bean?” In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may generate for display, with prompt 230, an imageof entity 218, video content related to entity 218, or any othersuitable visual element that allows user 202 to identify entity 218. Insome embodiments, instead of generating for display prompt 230, themedia guidance application may issue prompt 230 verbally by issuing “Didyou mean Sean Bean?” verbally.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive negativeinput 222 from user 202 subsequent to generating for display prompt 230.The media guidance application may determine that negative input 222indicates that entity 218 is an incorrect disambiguation of theambiguous entity in search query 122 of FIG. 1. For example, after themedia guidance application generates for display prompt 230, user 202may say negative input 222 (i.e. “No, the other one.”) to indicate thatuser 202 was not asking about what other television shows Sean Bean wasin.

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative example 300 of a media guidance applicationcorrectly disambiguating a search query based on increasing the area ofthe users gaze, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure.For example, user 302 may be viewing playback of a media asset ondisplay 314. Area 316 may correspond to the gaze of user 302. Area 316may overlap with the location of entity 318, but not overlap with thelocation of entity 320. The media guidance application may expand area316 to area 332, which may overlap with the location of entity 318 andthe location of entity 320. The media guidance application may receiveaffirmative input 322 from the user subsequent to generating for displayprompt 330, which may attempt to disambiguate a search query (e.g,search query 122 of FIG. 1) with an ambiguous entity by suggestingentity 320 as a potential disambiguation of the ambiguous entity.Simultaneous with generating for display prompt 330, or in response toreceiving affirmative input 322, the media guidance application maygenerate for display menu 334. Menu 334 may include answer 336 to thesearch query, additional information 338 about entity 320, and medialistings 340 which may include listings for media content that containsentity 320.

In some embodiments, based on receiving a negative input (e.g. negativeinput 222 of FIG. 2), the media guidance application may attempt to findadditional entities that may disambiguate the ambiguous entity in thesearch query (e.g., search query 122 in FIG. 1). In some embodiments, inorder to find additional entities that may disambiguate the ambiguousentity in the search query, the media guidance application may expandarea 316 to area 332 of display 314, area 332 being larger than area316. For example, the media guidance application may expand area 316,which may be defined by a circle centered at 10 inches left of thecenter of display 314 and 6 inches above the center of display 314 witha radius of 3 inches, to area 332, which may be a circle centered at 10inches left of the center of display 314 and 6 inches above center ofdisplay 314 with a radius of 6 inches. In an embodiment in which focuspoints are used, each vertex or edge may move away from the center ofarea 316 by a uniform distance (e.g., 3 inches).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may extract, frommetadata relating to the frame of the media asset that corresponds tothe current time, the location of entity 318 in the frame correspondingto the current time. For example, the media guidance application mayextract, by executing an SQL script utilizing the declarative “Select”command, the location of entity 320 (e.g., Jack Gleeson) in the frame,and determine that location of entity 320 in the frame may be defined bya bounding box, the upper left corner of the bounding box at 5 inchesleft of center and 7 inches above center, and the lower right corner ofthe bounding box at 2 inches left of center and 3 inches above center.In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatarea 332 overlaps with location of entity 320. The media guidanceapplication may determine that area 332 overlaps with location of entity320 in a similar manner as described above in relation to determiningthat area 216 overlaps with the location of entity 218 with regards toFIG. 2 above.

In some embodiments, based on determining that area 332 overlaps withthe location of entity 320 in the frame, the media guidance applicationmay generate for display prompt 330. Prompt 330 indicates entity 320 asa second potential disambiguation of the ambiguous entity in the searchquery. For example, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay prompt 330 by generating for display prompt 330 containing “Didyou mean Jack Gleeson?” In some embodiments, instead of generating fordisplay prompt 330, the media guidance application may issue prompt 330verbally by issuing “Did you mean Jack Gleeson?” verbally.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may update the userprofile based on receiving the negative input (e.g., negative input 222of FIG. 2). For example, the media guidance application, based onreceiving the negative input user 302, the media guidance applicationmay retrieve a data structure indicating entity 318 (e.g., Sean Bean,which may correspond to entity 118 of FIG. 1), a frame of the mediaasset corresponding to a prior time (e.g., the frame at the fiftiethminute of “Baelor” corresponding to 6:50 PM), and an area correspondingto a gaze of user 302 at the prior time (e.g., the area corresponding togaze 108 of user 102 at 6:50 PM, as described in relation to FIG. 1)from the user profile. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve, based on the data structure, the metadatarelating to the frame corresponding to the prior time. For example, themedia guidance application may retrieve the metadata relating to theframe at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor” that indicates the locationentity 318 and the location of a third entity (e.g., Lena Headey) in theframe at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may extract, fromthe data structure, the area corresponding to the gaze of user 302 atthe prior time. For example, the media guidance application, mayextract, by executing an SQL script utilizing the declarative “Select”command, the area corresponding to the gaze of user 302 at the priortime from the data structure indicating entity 318, the framecorresponding to the prior time, and the area corresponding to the gazeof user 302 at the prior time. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may expand the area corresponding to the gaze of user 302 atthe prior time to a new, larger area of the display screen. For example,the media guidance may expand the area corresponding to the gaze of user302 at the prior time to the new area in a similar manner as describedabove in relation to expanding area 316 to area 332. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may extract a location ofthe third entity from metadata relating to the frame corresponding tothe prior time. For example, the media guidance application may extractthe location of Lena Headey from the metadata relating to the frame atthe fiftieth minute of “Baelor.”

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatthe new area overlaps with the location of the third entity in the framecorresponding to the prior time. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the new area overlaps with the locationof Lena Headey in the frame at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor.” Themedia guidance application may do so in a manner similar to as describedabove in relation to determining that area 332 overlaps with thelocation of entity 320.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may, based ondetermining that the new area overlaps with the location of the thirdentity in the frame corresponding to the prior time and that area 332overlaps with the location of entity 320, decrease a first weight in aweighting profile (e.g., the weighting profile as described above inrelation to FIG. 1) by a first amount, increase the second weight by asecond amount, and increase the third weight by the second amount. Forexample, the media guidance application may decrease the weight forentity 316 (e.g., Sean Bean) from 40% to 30% as the media guidanceapplication determined, based on the negative response, that user 302was not looking at entity 316, and increase the weights for entity 320(e.g., Jack Gleeson) and Lena Headey from 30% to 35%.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may receive,subsequent to generating for display prompt 330, affirmative input 322from user 302. Affirmative input 322 may indicate that entity 320 is acorrect disambiguation of the ambiguous entity in the search query(e.g., search query 122 of FIG. 1). For example, the media guidanceapplication may, after the media guidance application generates fordisplay prompt 330 (i.e., the text box containing “Did you mean JackGleeson?”), detect user saying affirmative input 322 (i.e., “Yes!”). Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may generate fordisplay a selectable icon for the user to input affirmative input 322.In some embodiments, the media guidance application may update the userprofile and gather additional information about the disambiguated entitybased on affirmative input 322.

In some embodiments, to update a user profile and a weighting profilestored therein, the media guidance application may, based on receivingaffirmative input 322, decrease a weight for entity 316 by an amount andincrease a weight for entity 318 by the amount. For example, the mediaguidance application may decrease the weight assigned to entity 318(e.g., Sean Bean) from 40% to 30%, as the media guidance application nowknows that user 302 was not looking at entity 316, and increase theweight assigned to entity 320 (e.g., Jack Gleeson) from 30% to 40%. Themedia guidance application may not adjust a weight assigned to a thirdentity (e.g., Lena Headey) that is not in the frame corresponding to thecurrent time because the media guidance application has received noadditional information about the third entity from the conversation withuser 302.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may gather andgenerate for display menu 334 based on receiving affirmative input 322.The media guidance application may contact a database in order todetermine answer 336 to the search query (e.g., “What other televisionshows was he in?”). For example, the media guidance application may usenatural language processing to determine that the user is asking fortelevision shows related to entity 320 that are not the current mediaasset. The media guidance application may transmit, to a database, datapackets requesting a list of television shows that entity 320 was in. Inresponse, the media guidance application may receive data packets withan indication of the TV show in answer 336 (i.e., “Killinaskully”). Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may gather additionalinformation 338 and media listings 340 by querying a database foradditional information relating to entity 320 based on receivingaffirmative input 322. For example, the media guidance application maysearch a database for metadata tags on media content indicating thatentity 320 (i.e., Jack Gleeson) was an actor in the media content, andfor metadata related to entity 320. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may generate for display media listings 340 inresponse to receiving media listings 340 from the database, andadditional information 338 based on receiving the metadata related toentity 320. In some embodiments, the media guidance application mayallow the user to select the media listings 340 and access the mediacontent associated therewith.

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative example 400 of a media guidance applicationreceiving and disambiguating a search query with an ambiguous entityfrom a first user based on the monitored gaze of the first and seconduser, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Forexample, user 402 and user 442 may be viewing playback of a media asseton display 414. Detector 412 may monitor gaze 408 of user 402 and maymonitor gaze 444 of user 442, and may monitor the gaze of both users ina manner similar to as described above in relation to monitoring gaze108 of user 102 in FIG. 1. Area 416 may correspond to gaze 408 of user402, and area 448 may correspond to gaze 444 of user 442. The verticesof area 448 may be defined by focus point 450, focus point 452, andfocus point 454. Area 416 may overlap with the location of entity 446and with the location of entity 418, whereas area 448 may overlap withthe location of entity 418, and may not overlap with the location ofentity 446. While user 402 and user 442 are viewing playback of themedia asset on display 414, user 402 may say search query 422 (i.e.,“Where was he born?”), and in response, the media guidance applicationmay attempt to disambiguate search query 422 by generating for displayprompt 430.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine area448. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may do so bydetermining focus point 450, focus point 452, and focus point 454. Forexample, the media guidance application may always determine apredetermined number of focus points to define the vertices or edges ofarea 448. Alternatively or additionally, the media guidance applicationmay determine the focus points over a predetermined amount of time todefine the vertices or edges of area 448. If the number of focus pointsin the predetermined amount of time is less than 3, one of the focuspoints may be chosen as the center of area 448, and area 448 may bedefined by a circle, similar to as described above in relation to area116 of FIG. 1. The media guidance application may determine focus point450, focus point 452, and focus point 454 in a manner similar todetermining the point corresponding to gaze 108 of user 102 in relationto FIG. 1.

The media guidance application may receive search query 422 at a currenttime. In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinethat search query 422 includes an ambiguous entity in a similar manneras described above in relation to search query 122 of FIG. 1. Based ondetermining that search query 422 includes the ambiguous entity, themedia guidance application may attempt to disambiguate the ambiguousentity. To do so, the media guidance application may determine that thearea 416 overlaps with the location of entity 418 and the location ofentity 446 in a similar manner as described above in relation todetermining that area 116 overlaps with the location of entity 418 inregards to FIG. 1. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine the location of entity 418 and entity 446 in the frame of themedia asset corresponding to the current time based by extracting, byexecuting an SQL script utilizing the declarative “Select” command, frommetadata relating to the frame corresponding to the current time, thelocation of entity 418 and the location of entity 446. Based ondetermining that area 416 overlaps with the location of entity 418 andthe location of entity 446, in some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may proceed to gather additional data concerning entity 418and entity 446 in order to choose one of entity 418 and entity 446 toindicate in prompt 430 as a potential disambiguation of the ambiguousentity in search query 422.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may gatheradditional data by receiving, using the control circuitry, a weightingprofile from a user profile for user 402 (e.g., the weighting profilefrom the user profile as described above in relation to FIG. 1). In someembodiments, the media guidance application may receive the weightingprofile from the user profile of user 402 based on determining that area416 overlaps with the location of entity 418 and the location of entity446 in the frame corresponding to the current time. The media guidanceapplication may extract, from the weighting profile, a weight assignedto entity 418 and a weight assigned to entity 446. For example, themedia guidance application may extract, by executing an SQL scriptutilizing the declarative “Select” command, the weight of 40% assignedto entity 418 (e.g., Sean Bean) and the weight of 30% assigned to entity446 (e.g., Lena Headey) based on determining that area 416 overlaps withthe location of entity 418 and the location of entity 446 in the framecorresponding to the current time. In some embodiments, the mediaguidance application may determine that the weight assigned to entity418 is greater than the weight assigned to entity 446. In someembodiments, the media guidance application may generate for displayprompt 430 based on determining that the weight assigned to entity 418is greater than the weight assigned to entity 446. The media guidanceapplication may determine that the user looked at entity 418 more oftenthan entity 446 by determining that the weight of 40% assigned to entity418 is greater than the weight of 30% assigned to entity 446, and thus,the media guidance application choose entity 418 for inclusion in prompt430.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may gatheradditional data by retrieving, from the user profile, a data structureindicating a plurality of entities that correspond to gaze 408 of user402 at a plurality of times prior to the current time. The datastructure may be similar to as described above in relation to FIG. 1.The media guidance application may compare entity 418 and entity 446 tothe data structure indicating the plurality of entities to determinethat the entity 418 is in the data structure indicating the plurality ofentities and that the entity 446 is not in the data structure indicatingthe plurality of entities. For example, the media guidance applicationmay extract, by executing an SQL script utilizing the declarative“Select” command, the plurality of entities based on determining thatarea 416 overlaps with the location of entity 418 and entity 446.

The media guidance application may determine that entity 418 is in theplurality of entities, and that entity 446 is not. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may generate for display prompt 430 basedon determining that entity 418 is in the plurality of entities, and thatentity 446 is not.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may gatheradditional data by retrieving, from the database, a user profile of user402 indicating social media interactions of user 402 and interactions ofuser 402 with the media guidance application. For example, the userprofile of user 402 may indicate that user 402 liked “Ned Stark” (thecharacter played by entity 418) on social media. In some embodiments,the media guidance application may generate for display prompt 430 basedon the data indicating that user 402 liked “Ned Stark” on social media.For example, the media guidance application may choose to include entity418 as the first potential disambiguation of the ambiguous entitybecause user 418 liked the character that entity 418 plays in the mediaasset on social media and did not like the character that entity 446played in the media asset.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may gatheradditional data by retrieving, from a database, an indication of asocial media popularity of entity 418 and a social media popularity ofentity 446. For example, the media guidance application may receive anindication that entity 418 has 2 million likes on social media, andentity 446 has 1 million likes on social media. In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may generate for display prompt 430 based onthe indication. For example, the media guidance application may chooseentity 418 to include in prompt 430 as the first potentialdisambiguation of the ambiguous entity because entity 418 has more likeson social media than does entity 446.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may gatheradditional data by receiving, from a database, a knowledge graph. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatsearch query 422 includes a pronoun. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that search query 422 contains the pronoun“he.” In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve,using the control circuitry, from the database, metadata associating thepronoun with a characteristic of a characteristic type. For example,“he” may be associated with the characteristic “male” of thecharacteristic type “gender.” In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve, from the database, metadata about entity 418and metadata about entity 446. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine, based on the metadata about entity 418 andmetadata about the entity 446, that entity 418 is associated with thecharacteristic and entity 446 is associated with a differentcharacteristic of the characteristic type. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that entity 418 (e.g., Sean Bean) isassociated with the characteristic “male,” but that entity 446 (e.g.,Lena Headey) is associated with the characteristic “female” in the“gender” characteristic type. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display prompt 430 based on determiningthat entity 418 is associated with the characteristic and entity 446 isassociated with a different characteristic of the characteristic type.For example, the media guidance application may choose entity 430 toinclude in prompt 430 as the first potential disambiguation of theambiguous entity because “he” refers to “males,” and entity 418 is amale and Lena Headey is a female.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may gatheradditional data by receiving, using the control circuitry, dataindicative of area 448, calculated based on gaze 444 of user 442 at thecurrent time, from a user device of user 442. For example, user 402 anduser 442 may be concurrently watching the media asset on display 414. Insome embodiments, user 402 and user 442 may be watching media asset ontwo different displays. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve, from a database, information regarding aplurality of areas corresponding to gazes of a plurality of users whohave, or who are currently, watching the media asset, who are local touser 402 or remote from user 442. The media guidance application mayreceive data indicating that user 402 was looking at area 448, and thatarea 448 was calculated based on gaze 444 of user 442 at 6:52 PM. Insome embodiments, the media guidance application may determine that area448 overlaps with the location of entity 418. The media guidanceapplication may determine that the third area overlaps with the locationof entity 418 in a similar manner as described above in relation todetermining that area 116 overlaps with the location of the entity 118in regards to FIG. 1. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may generate for display prompt 430 based on determiningthat area 448 overlaps with the location of the entity 418. If user 442was also looking at entity 418, the media guidance application maydetermine that it is more likely that user 402 was looking at entity418. In the case of multiple users, the media guidance application mayinclude an entity that the most users were looking at in prompt 430.

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, chat sessions, social media,applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos,etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D,etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type ofguidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired content selections.

FIGS. 5-6 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 5-6 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 5-6 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 5 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 500arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 500 may include grid 502 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 504, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 506, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 502 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 508, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 510. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 510 may be provided inprogram information region 512. Region 512 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 502 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 514, recorded content listing 516, andInternet content listing 518. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 500 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings514, 516, and 518 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 502 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 502. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 520. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 520.)

Display 500 may also include video region 522, and options region 526.Video region 522 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs thatare currently available, will be available, or were available to theuser. The content of video region 522 may correspond to, or beindependent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 502. Griddisplays including a video region are sometimes referred to aspicture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalitiesare described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No.6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794,issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference hereinin their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other mediaguidance application display screens of the embodiments describedherein.

Options region 526 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 526 may be part of display 500 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 526 may concern features related to program listings in grid 502or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.Tivo.com, from other media guidance applicationsthe user accesses, from other interactive applications the useraccesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.), and/orobtain information about the user from other sources that the mediaguidance application may access. As a result, a user can be providedwith a unified guidance application experience across the user'sdifferent user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 8. Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 6. Video mosaic display 600 includes selectable options 602 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 600, television listings option 604 isselected, thus providing listings 606, 608, 610, and 612 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 600 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 608 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 614 and text portion 616.Media portion 614 and/or text portion 616 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 614 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 600 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 606 islarger than listings 608, 610, and 612), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 7 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 700. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 8.User equipment device 700 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 702. I/O path 702 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming,

Internet content, content available over a local area network (LAN) orwide area network (WAN), and/or other content) and data to controlcircuitry 704, which includes processing circuitry 706 and storage 708.Control circuitry 704 may be used to send and receive commands,requests, and other suitable data using I/O path 702. I/O path 702 mayconnect control circuitry 704 (and specifically processing circuitry706) to one or more communications paths (described below). I/Ofunctions may be provided by one or more of these communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 7 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing.

Control circuitry 704 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 706. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 704 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 708). Specifically, control circuitry 704 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 704 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 704 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 704 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 8). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 708 thatis part of control circuitry 704. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 708 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 8, may be used to supplementstorage 708 or instead of storage 708.

Control circuitry 704 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 704 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 700. Circuitry 704 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 708 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 700, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 708.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 704 using user inputinterface 710. User input interface 710 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 712 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 700. For example, display 712 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 710may be integrated with or combined with display 712. Display 712 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 712 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 712 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 712.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry704. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 704.Speakers 714 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 700 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 712 may be played throughspeakers 714. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers714.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 700. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage708), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 704 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 708 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 704 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 710. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 710 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 700 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 700. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 704 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 704) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 700. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 700.Equipment device 700 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 710 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 700 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 710.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 700 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 704). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 704 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 704. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 704. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 700 of FIG. 7 can be implemented in system 800 ofFIG. 8 as user television equipment 802, user computer equipment 804,wireless user communications device 806, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 7 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 802, user computer equipment 804, or awireless user communications device 806. For example, user televisionequipment 802 may, like some user computer equipment 804, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 804 may, like some television equipment 802, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 804, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 806.

In system 800, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 8 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 802, user computer equipment 804, wireless user communicationsdevice 806) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.Tivo.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 814.Namely, user television equipment 802, user computer equipment 804, andwireless user communications device 806 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 814 via communications paths 808, 810, and 812, respectively.Communications network 814 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 808, 810, and 812 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 812 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 8 it is awireless path and paths 808 and 810 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 8 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 808, 810, and 812, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 814.

System 800 includes content source 816 and media guidance data source818 coupled to communications network 814 via communication paths 820and 822, respectively. Paths 820 and 822 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 808, 810,and 812. Communications with the content source 816 and media guidancedata source 818 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 8 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 816 and media guidance data source 818, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 8 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 816 and media guidance data source 818 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 816 and 818 withuser equipment devices 802, 804, and 806 are shown as throughcommunications network 814, in some embodiments, sources 816 and 818 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 802, 804, and 806 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 808, 810, and 812.

Content source 816 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 816 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 816 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 816 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 818 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 818may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 818 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 818 mayprovide user equipment devices 802, 804, and 806 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data.

For example, the subscription data may identify to which sources orservices a given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services thegiven user has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions that entice the user tokeep the particular service or source indicated by the score as one towhich the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 708, and executedby control circuitry 704 of a user equipment device 700. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 704 of user equipment device 700and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 818) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 818), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 818 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices802, 804, and 806 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 800 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 8.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 814.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. PatentPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 816 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 802 and user computer equipment 804may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 806 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 814. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 816 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 818. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 802, user computer equipment 804, and wirelessuser communications device 806. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 804 or wireless usercommunications device 806 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 804. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 814. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 7.

As referred herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated as aresult of. For example, a first action being performed in response to asecond action may include interstitial steps between the first actionand the second action. As referred herein, the term “directly inresponse to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action beingperformed directly in response to a second action may not includeinterstitial steps between the first action and the second action.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for disambiguating anambiguous entity in a search query based on the gaze of a user, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. For example, a mediaguidance application may instruction control circuitry 706 to executethe elements of process 900.

Process 900 begins at 902, where the media guidance application monitors(e.g., via control circuitry 706) a gaze of a user during playback(e.g., on display 712) of a media asset (e.g., received from mediacontent source 816). The media guidance application may monitor (e.g.,via control circuitry 706) the gaze of the user by monitoring a verticaldegree of an eye of the user, a horizontal degree of the eye of theuser, and a position of the eye of the user relative to a displayscreen. For example, the media guidance application may use a camera(e.g., detector 112) to determine that the eye of the user is six feet(e.g., distance 124) from a screen (e.g., display 712) playing “Baelor,”and that the eye of the user is aligned with the center of the screen at6:52 PM. The media guidance application may determine (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) that the eye of the user is at a horizontal angle of 8degrees to the left of center and that the eye of the user is at avertical angle of 5 degrees above center.

Process 900 continues to 904, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 706) a size of the displayscreen (e.g., display 712) displaying the media asset. For example, themedia guidance application may determine that the display screen (e.g.,display 712) displaying “Baelor” is a 42 inch television, and hasdimensions of 20.6 inches (e.g., width 228) by 36.6 inches (e.g. height126).

Process 900 continues to 906, where the media guidance applicationcalculates (e.g., via control circuitry 706), based on the position, thesize, the vertical degree, and the horizontal degree, a first area(e.g., area 116) of the display screen (e.g., display 712) correspondingto the gaze of the user. In some embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may assume (e.g., via control circuitry 706) that the firstarea (e.g., area 116) is defined as a circle centered on the pointcorresponding to the gaze of the user, for example, about 10 inches leftof the center of the television and 6 inches above the center of thedisplay screen. The circle may be any suitable radius, for example,three inches. For example, the media guidance application may calculate(e.g., via control circuitry 706) the point corresponding to the gaze ofthe user using the following formulas: x_(gaze 108)=x_(eye)+(distance124)*tan(horizontal angle)and y_(gaze 108)=y_(eye)+(distance 124)*tan(vertical angle 110). In other embodiments, the media guidanceapplication may determine (e.g., via control circuitry 706) a pluralityof horizontal and vertical angles at which the user's eyes paused orchanged directions (i.e., fixation points) in a similar manner tocalculating the point that corresponds to the gaze of the user, and usethose points to define the edges or vertices of the outer bound of thefirst area.

Process 900 continues to 908, where the media guidance application maystore (e.g., via control circuitry 706), in memory (e.g., storage 708),a data structure indicating the first area and the current time. Forexample, the media guidance application may store (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) a data structure with a field with an indication of thefirst area and a field with an indication of the current time (e.g.,6:52 PM).

Process 900 continues to 910, where the media guidance applicationreceives (e.g., via control circuitry 706), a search query (e.g., searchquery 122) from the user at the current time. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine (e.g., via control circuitry 706)that the user said “How old is he?” using a microphone (e.g., detector112) at 6:52 PM.

Process 900 continues to 912, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 706) whether the search queryincludes an ambiguous entity. If the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 706) that the search query doesnot include an ambiguous entity (e.g., if the search query is “How oldis Jack Gleeson” or “Jack Gleeson, how old is he?”), process continuesto 914, where the media guidance application resolves (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) the search query. For example, the media guidanceapplication may query (e.g., via control circuitry 706 overcommunications network 814) a database (e.g., media guidance datasource) for the answer to the search query. The media guidanceapplication may receive (e.g., via control circuitry 706 overcommunications network 814) data packets that contain the answer to thesearch query.

The media guidance application may determine (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) that the search query includes an ambiguous entity. Forexample, the media guidance application (e.g., via control circuitry706) may determine that the word “he” is a pronoun that refers to ahuman or animal entity by referencing a database (e.g., media guidancedata source 818) of pronouns. The media guidance application may thusdetermine (e.g., via control circuitry 706) that the pronoun “he” in thesearch query “How old is he?” refers to an ambiguous entity. Moredetails regarding determining that the search query includes anambiguous entity are described below in FIG. 12.

If the media guidance application determines that the search queryincludes an ambiguous entity, process 900 continues to 916 where themedia guidance application retrieves (e.g., via control circuitry 706),from the memory (e.g., storage 708), the data structure indicating thefirst area and the current time. For example, the media guidanceapplication may query (e.g., via control circuitry 706) the memory(e.g., storage 708) for the data structure and receive the datastructure in return.

Process 900 continues to 918, where the media guidance applicationdetermines a frame of the media asset that corresponds to the currenttime. For example, the media guidance may extract (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706), by executing an SQL script utilizing the declarative“Select” command, the current time from the data structure. The mediaguidance application may then retrieve a viewing log (e.g., from storage708), the viewing log indicating the user's interactions with “Baelor.”The media guidance application may determine (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) that the viewing log indicates that the user startedwatching “Baelor” at 6:00 PM and has not stopped or paused “Baelor”since. The media guidance application may determine (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) that 6:52 PM corresponds to the frame occurring at thefifty-second minute of “Baelor” based on the viewing log.

Process 900 continues to 920, where the media guidance applicationretrieves (e.g., via control circuitry 706), from a database (e.g., frommedia guidance data source 818 over communications network 814),metadata relating to the frame of the media asset that corresponds tothe current time. The metadata may include a first location of a firstentity (e.g., entity 218) in the frame and a second location of a secondentity (e.g., entity 220) in the frame. For example, the media guidanceapplication may transmit (e.g., via control circuitry 706) a signal(e.g., over communications network 814), to the database (e.g., mediaguidance data source), requesting the metadata relating to the frameoccurring at the fifty-second minute of “Baelor” and receive (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 706 over communications network 814) the metadata inreturn. The metadata may include the location of the Sean Bean (i.e.,the first entity) (e.g., entity 218) in the frame occurring at thefifty-second minute of “Baelor” and the location of Jack Gleeson (i.e.,the second entity) (e.g., entity 220) in the same frame. In someembodiments, the first entity and the second entity may be at least oneof an actor, an actress, an object, an animal, and a character. Themetadata may indicate the first location of the first entity in theframe in any suitable manner, as described above in relation to asdescribed above in relation to indicating the location of entity 118 andthe location of the third entity in the frame occurring at the fiftiethminute of “Baelor” in relation to FIG. 1.

Process 900 continues to 922, where the media guidance application mayextract (e.g., via control circuitry 706), from the data structure, thefirst area (e.g., area 216) corresponding to the current time. Forexample, the media guidance application may extract (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706), by executing an SQL script utilizing the declarative“Select” command, the first area and determine (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) that the first area is the area outlined by a circle witha radius of three inches centered at 10 inches left of center and 6inches above center of the display screen.

Process 900 continues to 924, where the media guidance application mayextract (e.g., via control circuitry 706), from the metadata, the firstlocation of the first entity in the frame. For example, the mediaguidance application may extract (e.g., via control circuitry 706), byexecuting an SQL script utilizing the declarative “Select” command, thefirst location from the metadata and determine (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) that the location of Sean Bean (e.g., entity 218) in theframe may be defined by a bounding box, the upper left corner of thebounding box at 10 inches left of center and 9 inches above center, andthe lower right corner of the bounding box at 7 inches left of centerand 5 inches above center.

Process 900 continues to 926, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 706) that the first areaoverlaps with the first location of the first entity in the frame. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) that the first area (e.g., area 216) overlaps with thefirst location of the first entity (e.g., the location of entity 218) ina manner similar to as described above with respect to determining thatarea 216 overlaps with the location of entity 218 with regards to FIG.2.

Process 900 continues to 928 where the media guidance applicationgenerates (e.g., via control circuitry 706) for display (e.g., ondisplay 712) a first prompt for additional input (e.g., prompt 230). Thefirst prompt for additional input may indicate that the first entity asa first potential disambiguation of the ambiguous entity in the searchquery. For example, the media guidance application may generate (e.g.,via control circuitry 706) for display (e.g., on display 712) the firstprompt for additional input (e.g., prompt 230) by generating for displaya text box containing “Did you mean Sean Bean?” In some embodiments,instead of generating for display the first prompt for additional input,the media guidance application may issue (e.g., via control circuitry706) the first prompt for additional input verbally by issuing “Did youmean Sean Bean?” verbally (e.g. via speakers 714).

Process 900 continues to 930, where, the media guidance application mayreceive (e.g., via control circuitry 706) a negative input or anaffirmative input from the user subsequent to generating for display thefirst prompt for additional input. The negative input (e.g., negativeinput 222) indicates that the first entity is an incorrectdisambiguation of the ambiguous entity in the search query (e.g., searchquery 122). The affirmative input (e.g., affirmative input 322)indicates that the first entity is the correct disambiguation of theambiguous entity in the search query. For example, the media guidanceapplication may receive an affirmative input by detecting (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 706) the user say “Yes!” to indicate that the user wasasking for the age of Sean Bean (e.g., the first entity). If the mediaguidance application receives (e.g., via control circuitry 706) theaffirmative input, process 900 continues to 914, where the mediaguidance application resolves the search query with the first entity asthe ambiguous entity.

If the media guidance application receives (e.g., via control circuitry706) the negative input (e.g., by detecting (e.g., via control circuitry706) the user say “No. The other one.”), process 900 continues to 932,where the media guidance application may expand (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) the first area to a second area of the display screen(e.g., display 712), the second area being larger than the first area.For example, the media guidance application may expand (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 706) the first area (e.g. area 316), a circle centeredat 10 inches left of center and 6 inches above center with a radius of 3inches, to a second area (e.g., area 332), a circle centered at 10inches left of center and 6 inches above center with a radius of 6inches.

Process 900 continues to 934, where the media guidance applicationextracts (e.g., via control circuitry 706), from the metadata, thesecond location of the second entity in the frame corresponding to thecurrent time. For example, the media guidance application may extract(e.g., via control circuitry 706), by executing an SQL script utilizingthe declarative “Select” command, the second location of the secondentity (e.g., entity 320) in the frame, and determine that the secondlocation of the second entity in the frame may be defined by a boundingbox, the upper left corner of the bounding box at 5 inches left of thecenter of the display screen (e.g., display 712) and 7 inches above thecenter of the display screen, and the lower right corner of the boundingbox at 2 inches left of the center of the display screen and 3 inchesabove the center of the display screen.

Process 900 continues to 936, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 706) that the second areaoverlaps with the second location of the second entity. The mediaguidance application may determine (e.g., via control circuitry 706)that the second area (e.g., area 332) overlaps with the second locationof the second entity (e.g., entity 320) in a manner similar to asdescribed above with respect to determining that area 216 overlaps withthe location of entity 218 with regards to FIG. 2.

Process 900 continues to 938, where, based on determining that thesecond area overlaps with the second location of the second entity inthe frame, the media guidance application generates (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) for display (e.g., on display 712) a second prompt foradditional input. The second prompt for additional input (e.g., prompt330) indicates the second entity as a second potential disambiguation ofthe ambiguous entity in the search query (e.g., search query 122). Forexample, the media guidance application may generate (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) for display (e.g., on display 712) the second prompt foradditional input (e.g., prompt 330) by generating for display a text boxcontaining “Did you mean Jack Gleeson?” In some embodiments, instead ofgenerating for display the second prompt for additional input, the mediaguidance application may issue (e.g., via control circuitry 706) thesecond prompt for additional input verbally by issuing “Did you meanJack Gleeson?” verbally (e.g., via speakers 714).

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for creating a user profilebased on the gaze of a user, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. For example, a media guidance application may instructioncontrol circuitry 706 to execute the elements of process 1000.

Process 1000 begins at 1002, where the media guidance applicationmonitors (e.g., via control circuitry 706) the gaze of the user at afirst time during playback of a media asset. For example, the mediaguidance application may monitor the gaze of the user at 6:50 PM whilethe user is viewing “Baelor” in a similar manner as described inrelation to using detector 112 to monitor gaze 108 of user 102 inregards to FIG. 1 above.

Process 1000 continues to 1004, where the media guidance application maystore (e.g., via control circuitry 706), in a user profile (e.g., instorage 708 or at media guidance data source 818), a data structureindicating an area of a display screen corresponding to the gaze of theuser at the first time. For example, the data structure may indicate thearea (e.g., area 116) of the screen corresponding to the gaze (e.g.,gaze 108) of the user (e.g., user 108) at 6:50 PM. The media guidanceapplication may determine (e.g., via control circuitry 706) the area ina manner similar to as described above in relation to determining thefirst area in 906 of process 900 of FIG. 9.

Process 1000 continues to 1006, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 706), a frame of the media assetcorresponding to the first time. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine (e.g., via control circuitry 706) that theframe is the frame occurring at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor” in asimilar manner to as described in relation to determining the frame ofthe media asset that corresponds to the current time in relation to 918of process 918 in FIG. 9.

Process 1000 continues to 1008, where the media guidance applicationretrieves (e.g., via control circuitry 706), from a database (e.g.,media guidance data source 818), metadata relating to the frame of themedia asset indicating a location of a first entity and a location of asecond entity in the frame corresponding to the first time. For example,the media guidance application may retrieve (e.g., via control circuitry706) the metadata relating to the frame at the fiftieth minute of“Baelor” from the database (e.g., from media guidance data source 818)in a similar manner to as described above in relation to retrieving themetadata corresponding to the current time in 920 of process 900 in FIG.9. The media guidance application may determine (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) that the metadata relating to the frame at the fiftiethminute of “Baelor” indicates the location of Sean Bean (e.g., entity118) and indicates the location of Lena Headey (e.g., entity 446) in theframe at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor.”

Process 1000 continues to 1010, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 706) that the area overlaps withthe location of the first entity in the frame corresponding to the firsttime. For example, the media guidance application may extract, byexecuting an SQL script utilizing the declarative “Select” command, thearea from the data structure and determine (e.g., via control circuitry706) determine that the area overlaps with the location of Sean Bean(e.g., entity 118) in the frame at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor” in amanner similar to as described above with respect to determining thatarea 216 overlaps with the location of entity 218 with regards to FIG.2.

Process 1000 continues to 1012, where the media guidance applicationstores (e.g., via control circuitry 706), in the user profile (e.g., instorage 708 or media guidance data source 818), a data structureindicating the first entity, the frame corresponding to the first time,and the area. For example, the media guidance application may store(e.g., via control circuitry 706 in storage 708 or media guidance datasource 818) a data structure indicating Sean Bean (e.g., entity 418),the frame at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor,” and the area in the userprofile.

Process 1000 continues to 1014, where the media guidance applicationstores (e.g., via control circuitry 706), in the user profile (e.g., instorage 708 or media guidance data source 818) a weighting profile. Themedia guidance application may assign (e.g., via control circuitry 706),in the weighting profile, a first weight to the first entity (e.g.,entity 118), a second weight to the second entity (e.g., entity 446),and a third weight to a third entity (e.g., entity 120). For example,the media guidance application may store (e.g., via control circuitry706 in storage 708 or media guidance data source 818) a weightingprofile with fields indicating the entity and the weight assigned to theentity. For example, the media guidance application may store aweighting profile indicating that Sean Bean (e.g., entity 118) isassigned a weight of 40%, Jack Gleeson (e.g., entity 120) is assigned aweight of 30%, and Lena Headey (e.g., entity 446) is assigned a weightof 30%, based on the area (e.g., area 116) overlapping with the locationof Sean Bean in the frame at the fiftieth minute of “Baelor.” Theweighting profile may indicate, for example, how often a user (e.g.,user 102) has viewed each of the entities, how much time the user hasspent looking at each of the entities, or how important each of theentities is to the user.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for monitoring the gaze ofa user, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Forexample, a media guidance application may instruction control circuitry706 to execute the elements of process 1100.

Process 1100 begins at 1102, where the media guidance applicationreceives (e.g., via control circuitry 706), from a detector (e.g.,detector 112), a captured image, wherein the captured image comprises acaptured image of an eye (e.g., eye 104) of the user (e.g., user 102).The detector may be a camera, an infrared detector, contact lensdetector, wearable camera, wearable technology, optical sensor, or anyother suitable detector for determining the motion/angle of the eye anda position of the eye. The media guidance application may receive (e.g.,via control circuitry 706 over path 702) a picture of just the eye, thewhole face of the user, or a whole room, and may use (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) image recognition software to determine where in theimage the eye of the user is.

Process 1100 continues to 1104, where the media guidance applicationanalyzes the image to determine a first location of the center of thepupil of the eye (e.g., eye 102) of the user (e.g., user 102). Forexample, the media guidance application may run (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) a contrast analysis on the location of the image wherethe eye of the user is to determine the outline of the pupil of the eye.The media guidance application may then determine (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) the center of the outline of the shape of the outline ofthe pupil of the eye using an image analysis program or mathematicalanalysis engine.

Process 1100 continues to 1106, where the media guidance applicationanalyzes (e.g., via control circuitry 706) the image to determine asecond location of a reflection of a light source in the vicinity of theuser. For example, the detector (e.g., detector 112) may emit aninfrared light aimed at the eye of the user. The media guidanceapplication may run (e.g., via control circuitry 706) a contrastanalysis on the image (which may be an infrared image of the eye) todetermine where the reflection of the infrared light occurred in the eye(e.g., eye 104) of the user (e.g., user 102). In some embodiments, themedia guidance application may determine (e.g., via control circuitry706) the location of a visible-spectrum light in the vicinity of theuser, and determine (e.g., via control circuitry 706) the location ofthe reflection of the visible spectrum light in the eye of the user.

Process 1100 continues to 1108, where the media guidance applicationcalculates (e.g., via control circuitry 706) a vector from the firstlocation to the second location. For example, the media guidanceapplication may run (e.g., via control circuitry 706) a mathematicalanalysis of the image to determine a magnitude and direction of thehorizontal component of the vector and a magnitude and direction of thevertical component of the vector in the image.

Process 1100 continues to 1110, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 706) a horizontal angle (e.g.,horizontal angle 210) of the eye of the user and a vertical angle (e.g.,vertical angle 110) of the eye of the user based on the vector. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706), using a mathematical algorithm, that the horizontalangle is 8 degrees left of center (e.g., of reference gaze 106) and thatthe vertical angle is 5 degrees above center.

Process 1100 continues to 1112, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 706) the position, relative to adisplay screen (e.g., display 114), of the eye of the user based on thecaptured image. For example, if the captured image is captured using acamera (e.g., detector 112), the media guidance application determine(e.g., via control circuitry 706) a reference point in the room todetermine the position of the eye (e.g., eye 104) relative to thereference point. Using this position, the media guidance application maydetermine (e.g., via control circuitry 706), using an stored algorithm,based on the position of the eye relative to the reference point, and aposition of the reference point from the display screen (e.g., display114), determine the position of the eye relative to the display screen.Additionally or alternatively, the media guidance application mayretrieve (e.g., via control circuitry 706 from media guidance datasource 818) an average size of the head of a human to model the size ofthe head of the user, and based on this information, determine theposition of the eye relative to the display screen, including thedistance (e.g., distance 124) from the display screen. Additionally oralternatively, the media guidance application may receive (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 706 via path 702) a second image from a seconddetector to determine the position of the eye relative to the displayscreen. For example, the media guidance application may determine (e.g.,via control circuitry 706) that the eye of the user is located at adistance of six feet (e.g., distance 124) from the display screen (e.g.,display 114) playing the media asset “Baelor,” and that the eye isaligned with the center of the display screen (e.g., display 114).

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for determining that asearch query includes an ambiguous entity, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. For example, a media guidance applicationmay instruction control circuitry 706 to execute the elements of process1200.

Process 1200 begins at 1202, where the media guidance applicationreceives (e.g., via control circuitry 706) a search query from a user.For example, the media guidance application may receive (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 706) via a microphone (e.g., detector 112) a searchquery (e.g., search query 122) from a user. For example, the mediaguidance application may receive the search query “How old is he?”

Process 1200 continues to 1204, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 706) whether the search query isa string. For example, as discussed above, the media guidanceapplication may receive (e.g., via control circuitry 706) the searchquery via a microphone, in which case the search query is audio data. Ifthe media guidance application determines (e.g., via control circuitry706) that the search query is not a string (e.g., is audio data),process 1200 continues to 1206, where the media guidance applicationconverts (e.g., via control circuitry 706) the search query to a string.For example, the media guidance application may use natural languageprocessing (e.g., via control circuitry 706) to analyze the audio datato a string.

If the media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) that the search query is a string, or after convertingthe search query to a string at 1206, process 1200 continues to 1208,where the media guidance application parses (e.g., via control circuitry706) the string into individual words. For example, the media guidanceapplication may parse (e.g., via control circuitry 706) the string “Howold is he?” into individual words “how,” “old,” “is,” and “he” bydetecting space characters in the string.

Process 1200 continues to 1210, where the media guidance applicationcompares (e.g., via control circuitry 706) each individual word of thestring, or combinations thereof, to a pronoun database. For example, themedia guidance application may query (e.g., via control circuitry 706over communications network 814) a database (e.g., media guidance datasource 818) for a data structure indicating a plurality of pronouns. Themedia guidance application may receive (e.g., via control circuitry 706over communications network) from the database (e.g., media guidancedata source 818) the data structure indicating the plurality ofpronouns. For example, the media guidance application may determine(e.g., via control circuitry 706) that the data structure contains thewords “he,” “she,” “that,” “this,” “everyone,” “they,” “that guy,”“those people,” or any other suitable pronoun. The media guidanceapplication may compare “how,” “old,” “is,” and “he” to the words in thedata structure indicating the plurality of pronouns. As anotherillustrative example, the media guidance application may receive (e.g.,via control circuitry 706) the search query “How old is that guy at thealtar?” The media guidance application may compare (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706), for example, the combination of “that” and “guy” to thepronoun database

Process 1200 continues to 1212, where the media guidance applicationdetermines (e.g., via control circuitry 706) whether any individualword, or combinations thereof, matches an entry in the pronoun database.For example, if the search query was “How old is Jack Gleeson,” themedia guidance application may determine that none of the individualwords “how,” “old,” “is,” “Jack,” nor “Gleeson” match the entries in thedata structure indicating the plurality of pronouns. If the mediaguidance application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 706) thatnone of the individual words, or combinations thereof, match an entry inthe pronoun database, process 1200 continues to 1214, where the mediaguidance application determines (e.g., via control circuitry 706) thatthe search query is not ambiguous. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine (e.g., via control circuitry 706) that thesearch query “How old is Jack Gleeson?” does not have an ambiguousentity, and rather an unambiguous entity (e.g., Jack Gleeson), andtherefore is not ambiguous.

However, if the search query was “How old is he?”, the media guidanceapplication may determine that “he” matches the entry “he” in thepronoun database, or may determine (e.g., via control circuitry 706)that “that guy” matches the entry “that guy” in the pronoun database. Ifthe media guidance application determines (e.g., via control circuitry706) that one or more of the individual words, or combinations thereof,match a word in the pronoun database, process 1200 continues to 1216,where the media guidance application determines (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) whether any of the individual words preceding thepronoun, or combinations thereof, are an unambiguous entity. Forexample, if the media guidance application receives (e.g., via controlcircuitry 706) the search query “Jack Gleeson, how old is he?,” themedia guidance application may determine that “he” matches a word in thepronoun database. At 1216, the media guidance application may determine(e.g., via control circuitry 706) that the individual words “Jack” and“Gleeson” make up an unambiguous entity. For example, the media guidanceapplication may search (e.g., via control circuitry 706) a database(e.g., media guidance data source 818) for “Jack Gleeson” to determinethat “Jack” and “Gleeson” make up an unambiguous entity.

If the media guidance application determines that any of the individualwords preceding the pronoun, or combinations thereof, are an unambiguousentity, process 1200 continues to 1214, where the media guidanceapplication determines (e.g., via control circuitry 706) that the searchquery is not ambiguous. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine (e.g., via control circuitry 706) that the search query “JackGleeson, how old is he?” does not have an ambiguous entity. The mediaguidance application may determine (e.g., via control circuitry 706)that the unambiguous entity “Jack Gleeson” disambiguates the ambiguouspronoun “he” in the search query, and therefore, that the search queryis not ambiguous.

Returning to 1216, for example, the media guidance application maydetermine (e.g., via control circuitry 706) that none of the individualwords preceding the pronoun, or combinations thereof, are an unambiguousentity. For example, the media guidance application may determine (e.g.,via control circuitry 706) that the individual words in the search query“How old is he?”, “how,” “old,” and “is,” refer to an unambiguous entityby references by searching (e.g., via control circuitry 706) a database(e.g., media guidance data source 818) for “how,” “old,” and “is” todetermine that none of the words preceding the pronoun correspond to anunambiguous entity. If the media guidance application determines (e.g.,via control circuitry 706) none of the individual words preceding thepronoun, or combinations thereof, are an unambiguous entity, process1200 continues to 1218, where the media guidance application determines(e.g., via control circuitry 706) that the search query is ambiguous.For example, the media guidance application may determine (e.g., viacontrol circuitry 706) that the search query “How old is he?” isambiguous.

The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are presentedfor purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the presentdisclosure is limited only by the claims that follow. Additionally, itshould be noted that any of the devices or equipment discussed inrelation to FIGS. 4-5 could be used to perform one or more of the stepsin processes 900-1200 in FIGS.9-12, respectively. Furthermore, it shouldbe noted that the features and limitations described in any oneembodiment may be applied to any other embodiment herein, and flowchartsor examples relating to one embodiment may be combined with any otherembodiment in a suitable manner, done in different orders, performedwith addition steps, performed with omitted steps, or done in parallel.For example, each of these steps may be performed in any order or inparallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase thespeed of the system or method. In addition, the systems and methodsdescribed herein may be performed in real time. It should also be notedthat the systems and/or methods described above may be applied to, orused in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.

1. (canceled)
 2. A method for disambiguating an ambiguous entity in asearch query based on a gaze of a user, the method comprising:monitoring, using control circuitry, at a current time, a gaze of a userduring playback of a media asset, wherein monitoring the gaze of theuser comprises monitoring a vertical degree of an eye of the user, ahorizontal degree of the eye of the user, and a position of the eye ofthe user relative to a display screen displaying the media asset;determining a size of the display screen displaying the media asset;calculating, based on the position, the size, the vertical degree, andthe horizontal degree, a first area of the display screen correspondingto the gaze of the user; storing, in memory, a data structure indicatingthe first area and the current time; receiving, using the controlcircuitry, a search query from the user at the current time; determiningthat the search query includes an ambiguous entity; and based ondetermining that the search query includes the ambiguous entity:retrieving, from the memory, the data structure; determining a frame ofthe media asset that correspond to the current time; retrieving, from adatabase, metadata relating to the frame of the media assetcorresponding to the current time, the metadata including a firstlocation of a first entity in the frame and a second location of asecond entity in the frame; extracting, from the data structure, thefirst area corresponding to the current time; extracting from themetadata, the first location of the first entity in the frame;determining that the first area overlaps with the first location of thefirst entity; based on determining that the first area overlaps with thefirst location of the first entity, generating for display a firstprompt for additional input, wherein the first prompt for additionalinput indicates the first entity as a first potential disambiguation ofthe ambiguous entity in the search query; subsequent to generating fordisplay the first prompt for additional input, receiving a negativeinput from the user, wherein the negative input indicates that the firstentity is an incorrect disambiguation of the ambiguous entity in thesearch query; based on receiving the negative input: expanding the firstarea to a second area of the display screen, wherein the second area islarger than the first area; extracting, from the metadata, the secondlocation of the second entity in the frame; determining that the secondarea overlaps with the second location of the second entity; and basedon determining that the second area overlaps with the second location,generating for display a second prompt for additional input, wherein thesecond prompt for additional input indicates the second entity as asecond potential disambiguation of the ambiguous entity in the searchquery.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the data structure is a firstdata structure, and wherein the frame is a first frame, the methodfurther comprising: creating, using the control circuitry, a userprofile for the user, wherein creating the user profile comprises:monitoring, using the control circuitry, the gaze of the user at a priortime before the current time; storing, in the user profile, a seconddata structure indicating a third area of the display screencorresponding to the gaze of the user at the prior time; determining asecond frame of the media asset corresponding to the prior time;retrieving, from a database, metadata relating to the second frame ofthe media asset, the metadata relating to the second frame indicating athird location of the first entity and a fourth location of a thirdentity; determining that the third area overlaps with the third locationof the first entity; and based on determining that the third areaoverlaps with the third location of the first entity: storing, in theuser profile, a third data structure indicating the first entity, thesecond frame, and the third area; and storing, in the user profile, aweighting profile, wherein the weighting profile assigns a first weightto the first entity, a second weight to the second entity, and a thirdweight to the third entity.
 4. The method of claim 3, the method furthercomprising: based on receiving the negative input: retrieving, from theuser profile, the third data structure; retrieving, based on the thirddata structure, the metadata relating to the second frame; extracting,from the third data structure, the third area; expanding the third areato a fourth area of the display screen, wherein the fourth area islarger than the third area; extracting the fourth location of the thirdentity from the metadata relating to the second frame; determining thatthe fourth area overlaps with the fourth location of the third entity;and based on determining that the fourth area overlaps with the fourthlocation and that the second area overlaps with the second location,decreasing the first weight by a first amount, increasing the secondweight by a second amount, and increasing the third weight by the secondamount.
 5. The method of claim 3, the method further comprising:subsequent to generating for display the second prompt for additionalinput, receiving an affirmative input from the user, wherein theaffirmative input indicates that the second entity is a correctdisambiguation of the ambiguous entity in the search query; based onreceiving the affirmative input, decreasing the first weight by anamount and increasing the second weight by the amount.
 6. The method ofclaim 3, wherein the metadata further includes a fifth location of thethird entity in the first frame, the method further comprising:extracting from the metadata the fifth location of the third entity inthe first frame; determining that the first area overlaps with the fifthlocation of the third entity; based on determining that the first areaoverlaps with the fifth location and the first location: retrieving,from the user profile, the weighting profile; extracting, from theweighting profile, the first weight and the third weight; determiningthat the first weight is greater than the third weight; and whereingenerating for display the first prompt for additional input is furtherbased on determining that the first weight is greater than the thirdweight.
 7. The method of claim 2, wherein the metadata further includesa third location of a third entity in the frame, the method furthercomprising: extracting from the metadata the third location of the thirdentity in the frame; determining that the first area overlaps with thethird location of the third entity; based on determining that the firstarea overlaps with the third location and the first location:retrieving, from the database, at least one of a user profile of theuser, an indication of a social media popularity of the first entity anda social media popularity of the third entity, and a knowledge graph;and wherein generating for display the first prompt for additional inputis further based on the at least one of the user profile and theindication.
 8. The method of claim 2, wherein the metadata furtherincludes a third location of a third entity in the frame, the methodfurther comprising: extracting from the metadata the third location ofthe third entity in the frame; determining that the first area overlapswith the third location of the third entity; based on determining thatthe first area overlaps with the third location and the first location:receiving, using the control circuitry, data indicative of a third areafrom a user device of a second user, wherein the third area wascalculated based on a gaze of the second user at the current time;determining that the third area overlaps with the location of the firstentity; and wherein generating for display the first prompt foradditional input is further based on determining that the third areaoverlaps with the location of the first entity.
 9. The method of claim2, the method further comprising: subsequent to generating for displaythe second prompt for additional input, receiving an affirmative inputfrom the user, wherein the affirmative input indicates that the secondentity is a correct disambiguation of the ambiguous entity in the searchquery; based on receiving the affirmative input: searching the databasefor media content that includes the second entity; and generating fordisplay listings for the media content that includes the second entity.10. The method of claim 2, wherein the first entity and the secondentity are at least one of an actor, an actress, an object, an animal,and a character.
 11. The method of claim 2, wherein the metadata furtherincludes a third location of a third entity in the frame, and whereinthe search query includes a pronoun, the method further comprising:extracting from the metadata the third location of the third entity inthe frame; determining that the first area overlaps with the thirdlocation of the third entity; based on determining that the first areaoverlaps with the third location and the first location: retrieving,using control circuitry, from the database, metadata associating thepronoun with a characteristic of a characteristic type; retrieving, fromthe database, metadata about the first entity and metadata about thethird entity; determining, based on the metadata about the first entityand the metadata about the third entity, that the first entity isassociated with the characteristic and the third entity is associatedwith a different characteristic of the characteristic type; and whereingenerating for display the first prompt for additional input is furtherbased on determining that the first entity is associated with thecharacteristic and the third entity is associated with the differentcharacteristic.
 12. A system for disambiguating an ambiguous entity in asearch query based on a gaze of a user, the system comprising: controlcircuitry configured to: monitor, at a current time, a gaze of a userduring playback of a media asset, wherein monitoring the gaze of theuser comprises monitoring a vertical degree of an eye of the user, ahorizontal degree of the eye of the user, and a position of the eye ofthe user relative to a display screen displaying the media asset;determine a size of the display screen displaying the media asset;calculate, based on the position, the size, the vertical degree, and thehorizontal degree, a first area of the display screen corresponding tothe gaze of the user; store, in memory, a data structure indicating thefirst area and the current time; receive a search query from the user atthe current time; determine that the search query includes an ambiguousentity; and based on determining that the search query includes theambiguous entity: retrieve, from the memory, the data structure;determine a frame of the media asset that correspond to the currenttime; retrieve, from a database, metadata relating to the frame of themedia asset corresponding to the current time, the metadata including afirst location of a first entity in the frame and a second location of asecond entity in the frame; extract, from the data structure, the firstarea corresponding to the current time; extract from the metadata, thefirst location of the first entity in the frame; determine that thefirst area overlaps with the first location of the first entity; basedon determining that the first area overlaps with the first location ofthe first entity, generate for display a first prompt for additionalinput, wherein the first prompt for additional input indicates the firstentity as a first potential disambiguation of the ambiguous entity inthe search query; subsequent to generating for display the first promptfor additional input, receive a negative input from the user, whereinthe negative input indicates that the first entity is an incorrectdisambiguation of the ambiguous entity in the search query; based onreceiving the negative input: expand the first area to a second area ofthe display screen, wherein the second area is larger than the firstarea; extract, from the metadata, the second location of the secondentity in the frame; determine that the second area overlaps with thesecond location of the second entity; and based on determining that thesecond area overlaps with the second location, generate for display asecond prompt for additional input, wherein the second prompt foradditional input indicates the second entity as a second potentialdisambiguation of the ambiguous entity in the search query.
 13. Thesystem of claim 12, wherein the data structure is a first datastructure, wherein the frame is a first frame, and wherein the controlcircuitry is further configured to: create a user profile for the user,wherein the control circuitry is configured to create the user profileby: monitoring the gaze of the user at a prior time before the currenttime; storing, in the user profile, a second data structure indicating athird area of the display screen corresponding to the gaze of the userat the prior time; determining a second frame of the media assetcorresponding to the prior time; retrieving, from a database, metadatarelating to the second frame of the media asset, the metadata relatingto the second frame indicating a third location of the first entity anda fourth location of a third entity; determining that the third areaoverlaps with the third location of the first entity; and based ondetermining that the third area overlaps with the third location of thefirst entity: storing, in the user profile, a third data structureindicating the first entity, the second frame, and the third area; andstoring, in the user profile, a weighting profile, wherein the weightingprofile assigns a first weight to the first entity, a second weight tothe second entity, and a third weight to the third entity.
 14. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the control circuitry, based on receivingthe negative input, is further configured to: retrieve, from the userprofile, the third data structure; retrieve, based on the third datastructure, the metadata relating to the second frame; extract, from thethird data structure, the third area; expand the third area to a fourtharea of the display screen, wherein the fourth area is larger than thethird area; extract the fourth location of the third entity from themetadata relating to the second frame; determine that the fourth areaoverlaps with the fourth location of the third entity; and based ondetermining that the fourth area overlaps with the fourth location andthat the second area overlaps with the second location, decrease thefirst weight by a first amount, increase the second weight by a secondamount, and increase the third weight by the second amount.
 15. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the control circuitry is further configuredto: receive, subsequent to generating for display the second prompt foradditional input, an affirmative input from the user, wherein theaffirmative input indicates that the second entity is a correctdisambiguation of the ambiguous entity in the search query; based onreceiving the affirmative input, decrease the first weight by an amountand increase the second weight by the amount.
 16. The system of claim13, wherein the metadata further includes a fifth location of the thirdentity in the first frame, and wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to: extract from the metadata the fifth location of the thirdentity in the first frame; determine that the first area overlaps withthe fifth location of the third entity; based on determining that thefirst area overlaps with the fifth location and the first location:retrieve, from the user profile, the weighting profile; extract, fromthe weighting profile, the first weight and the third weight; determinethat the first weight is greater than the third weight; and generate fordisplay the first prompt for additional input based on determining thatthe first weight is greater than the third weight.
 17. The system ofclaim 12, wherein the metadata further includes a third location of athird entity in the frame, and wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to: extract from the metadata the third location of the thirdentity in the frame; determine that the first area overlaps with thethird location of the third entity; based on determining that the firstarea overlaps with the third location and the first location: retrieve,from the database, at least one of a user profile of the user, anindication of a social media popularity of the first entity and a socialmedia popularity of the third entity, and a knowledge graph; andgenerate for display the first prompt for additional input based on theat least one of the user profile and the indication.
 18. The system ofclaim 12, wherein the metadata further includes a third location of athird entity in the frame, and wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to: extract from the metadata the third location of the thirdentity in the frame; determine that the first area overlaps with thethird location of the third entity; based on determining that the firstarea overlaps with the third location and the first location: receivedata indicative of a third area from a user device of a second user,wherein the third area was calculated based on a gaze of the second userat the current time; determine that the third area overlaps with thelocation of the first entity; and generate for display the first promptfor additional input based on determining that the third area overlapswith the location of the first entity.
 19. The system of claim 12,wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: receive,subsequent to generating for display the second prompt for additionalinput, an affirmative input from the user, wherein the affirmative inputindicates that the second entity is a correct disambiguation of theambiguous entity in the search query; based on receiving the affirmativeinput: search the database for media content that includes the secondentity; and generate for display listings for the media content thatincludes the second entity.
 20. The system of claim 12, wherein thefirst entity and the second entity are at least one of an actor, anactress, an object, an animal, and a character.
 21. The system of claim12, wherein the metadata further includes a third location of a thirdentity in the frame, wherein the search query includes a pronoun, andwherein the control circuitry is further configured to: extract from themetadata the third location of the third entity in the frame; determinethat the first area overlaps with the third location of the thirdentity; based on determining that the first area overlaps with the thirdlocation and the first location: retrieve from the database, metadataassociating the pronoun with a characteristic of a characteristic type;retrieve, from the database, metadata about the first entity andmetadata about the third entity; determine, based on the metadata aboutthe first entity and the metadata about the third entity, that the firstentity is associated with the characteristic and the third entity isassociated with a different characteristic of the characteristic type;and generate for display the first prompt for additional input based ondetermining that the first entity is associated with the characteristicand the third entity is associated with the different characteristic.22.-51. (canceled)